


Shadow of Fate

by Theokicks



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), Rise of the Guardians (2012), Tangled (2010)
Genre: Hogwarts AU, the big four
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-29
Updated: 2015-04-29
Packaged: 2018-03-26 07:37:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 21,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3842500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Theokicks/pseuds/Theokicks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>this was my first hogwarts au and I ended up losing my plot details and forgetting it all and being confused with my own writing... :( I have another hogwarts au but it's all homo planned :)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Merida grunted as her mother began ranting on things she should and shouldn't do at the new school. Witchcraft and Wizardry was no secret to her, in fact she had received her invite just after she tried turning her mother into a bear. She figured transfiguration would be an easy and valuable class. Her brothers were running around crazed.

She noticed another girl with long blonde hair hugging her mother goodbye. The girl seemed to see her, she walked over with her cart and sighed, "Have you ever done this before?"

Merida shook her head, "Suppose it will be a first for the two of us." She managed a reassuring smile before the two girls noticed not too far off was a boy kneeling down to hug his crying sister.

"Hey, it's going to be fine, I'm coming back for the holidays." Jack cooed.

Emily buried her head in Jack's body holding tight she let go once her mother's hand came to her shoulder. "You promise?"

Jack grinned, "Cross my heart." He made a motion that seemed childlike...crossing his fingers over his heart as his younger sister let out a giggle and repeated the emotion.

"I'm proud of you..." His mother sighed hugging him.

Jack smiled at the both of them and watched as two girls with a whole-lotta hair raced between the platforms. He shrugged at the idea of running into a solid surface and took a bit of a head start before going right through the seemingly brick wall.

The train was stationed and let out a high whistle warning stragglers to get aboard.

Jack looked behind him and felt a slight sense of worry; he had never been on his own like this...after all he was only eleven.

Jack hopped on the train quick enough; he took an empty booth and took a window seat starring as the last few students ran onto the train. He heard a slight knock at the door; he turned to see a boy with brown hair and green eyes with a strain of freckles across the bridge of his nose sheepishly wave. "Do you mind?"

Jack shook his head, and gestured to the empty seats.

Hiccup smiled at the brown haired and brown eyed boy. He was shorter than most and welcoming at least. Once he had himself settled it wasn't long before he traded names.

"Jack Overland Frost." Jack greeted.

Hiccup chuckled, "Hiccup Horrendous Haddock."

"You seem like you're from..."

"I'm a Viking; my father's a whole lot bigger though." Hiccup finished.

Jack frowned, "I wouldn't have guessed... No offense."

Hiccup shrugged, "Well contrary to popular belief, it isn't so bad being a toothpick."

They both shared a laugh as another knock came on the door. They both looked to see an eager green eyed blonde and a more reserved and suspicious red haired and turquoise eyed girl waiting to be invited inside with heavy luggage in their arms.

After the boys let them in the girls stowed their luggage under the seats and overtop in compartments.

"I'm Rapunzel, this is Merida."

"I'm Jack and this is triple H." Jack replied.

Hiccup made a short laugh as the girls frowned at the odd name, "It's Hiccup..."

They sat down relaxed realizing it was a mild joke.

Merida paused as she inspected the two boys, "both of ya seem to be colonials."

Jack seemed uneasy at the observation as Hiccup sighed.

"I'm from Berk..." the young Viking explained.

Merida looked to Jack expectantly.

"Small town...you'd probably never hear about it." Jack shrugged; he shifted back into his charismatic defences. "You seem to be Scottish?"

Merida nodded, "Was it the hair or the accent?"

Jack chuckled, "Both."

Rapunzel smiled, "Are you guys excited or what? I haven't heard much about the houses other than the fact that there are four and as soon as we get inside we get sorted!"

Hiccup paused, "Yeah there's Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw."

Merida looked over to the green eyed boy seeing that this topic made him nervous. "Which one are you trying for?"

"My dad wants me to get into Gryffindor..." He admitted.

Merida nodded, "Yeah, my entire family has been in Gryffindor for ages, pretty sure I wouldn't be any different."

Rapunzel thought for a moment. "I'd think that as long as I got along with the house..." she looked to Jack, "Which one do you think you'd fit into?"

"I have no idea..."

Merida arched an eyebrow, "What about your lineage, the odds say the more in the family that go to a house is the dominant one...how about you Rapunzel? What house did your parents belong to?"

Rapunzel sighed, "My mother was from the green one and my father apparently was from the blue."

"Slytherin is green, Ravenclaw is blue." Merida explained.

Rapunzel seemed content with the answer. "I like green...I also like blue though..."

Jack grinned, "Slytherin is represented by a snake, and Ravenclaw is represented by a raven. Then Gryffindor is red represented by a lion and then Hufflepuff is a mole? And it's yellow."

Hiccup frowned, "I don't think it's a mole."

Merida shrugged, "I never really though much of that house, supposing to myself that I'm probably going into Gryffindor."

Hiccup sighed, "My mom was from Hufflepuff."

Merida seemed embarrassed she dismissed the house after he said that. She coughed and roughly patted his shoulder. "It isn't a bad house...it's a badger or something...and those are feisty creatures."

Everyone began laughing at the idea of a badger being feisty, at least one that matched the power of the other three animals.

Time flew by as the friends began to fool around and test the dynamics of each person.

Jack was pinned as the trouble maker, yet the soft side was with his younger sister Emily whom he spoke of fondly and protectively.

Rapunzel was the day dreaming optimist who indifferently agreed. She had hopes and dreams of achieving all that she could, explain to her three new friends that up until this day she had never set foot outside her tower.

Merida was the rebellious and tomboyish girl who admitted being in love with archery which only created the thought of her accuracy with spells... She told them about her father losing his leg to a beastly bear named Mordu. Yeah she was probably going into Gryffindor...

Hiccup was clumsy and although reserved in his humor he did have some, which only seemed to be used when Merida wasn't making eye contact with him. Otherwise he began stuttering which caused Jack and Rapunzel to giggle at while Merida confusedly shot them a sideways glance.

The train stopped at the station where they were brought to boats, they were shifty looking and the night sky seemed to be illuminated by the full moon that shone above.

They all lost their breath once they caught the sight of the yellow lights peering out of the many rooms of the giant Castle Academy. The halls were enormous and Hiccup lost his footing as he gaped at the large columns.

Jack chuckled and pulled his friend back on his feet as they followed the Prof. who guided them into a large hall.

Four long tables where everyone belonged to a house and was seated accordingly. The four friends found themselves stuffed inside the crowd of new students and remained clueless until the sorting hat began calling out names.

The last four names for the last four standing in front of the wooden stool and enchanted hat.

"Merida DunBorch." The hat called.

Merida sat on the stool rolling her eyes as the hat merely hovered over her head and exclaimed, "Gryffindor." Shooting her friends an "I-told- you- so", she took her seat with her house.

"Hiccup Horrendous Haddock...the third."

Hiccup gulped as he crossed his fingers for Gryffindor. It seemed there was more motivation to be placed with the girl he and begun to really admire and fall for. But as the hat was placed on his head his father's request was not in vain. "Gryffindor." The Hat yelled.

Hiccup seemed surprised and managed a smile as made his way to the table beside Merida; Jack patted his back while he went.

"Rapunzel Corona!"

Rapunzel excitedly made her way onto the stool and the hat rested on her golden head. The hat laughed at this enthusiasm. "Gryffindor!"

Rapunzel squealed as she ran to her table, upset she wasn't with Hiccup or Merida she still was so happy to be here.

"Jack Overland Frost." The hat called.

Jack sat on the stool and seemed bored, even if he was still paying attention the hat took a while to decide. "Where do you belong...?" It mumbled indifferently.

Jack arched an eyebrow as he looked up at the hat, "Slytherin."

Jack let his signature grin spread across his face as he made eye contact with Merida, Hiccup and Rapunzel. Who would have guessed that they would all be in Gryffindor but him!

The other Slytherin members seemed reluctant to give a seat for Jack so he simply stole one effortlessly as the original owner of the seat blushed and sat somewhere else.

The feast was long and the four children felt like they had eaten their weight in pudding, roast beef and poutine. (Poutine is native to Canada so I understand if you guys are totally confused...jk)

Merida unpacked her things in the Gryffindor tower she looked out at the rain that had begun to softy pour. She sat on her bed and sighed, she was glad Rapunzel was in her house, as well as the cute Viking boy.

Rapunzel was hopping around her bed organizing everything; she smiled as she let her chameleon, Pascal scamper onto her nightstand and rest himself near the warm candle. She giggled and began placing her clothes in her trunk.

"It's odd how Jack was put in Slytherin..." Merida thought out loud.

Rapunzel shrugged, "Well he never said which house his parents belonged to...besides he's still going to be in our classes, we can still be his friends."

Hiccup was uneasily seated on his bed; Merida and Rapunzel were in the girl's dorm across from the boys'. It had occurred to him that he hadn't expected Jack to be placed in Slytherin, then again when they were discussing lineage he hadn't mentioned which houses his parents had been in... He just wanted someone he was familiar with even if he was surrounded by friendly eager faces he felt sorry that Jack had been separated so easily even when they had just become friends. Hiccup also noted that strangely enough Rapunzel had been placed in Gryffindor despite her lineage being Slytherin and Ravenclaw...maybe the hat was just drunk or something.

Jack had already hid several 7th year students' socks in the cushions of the couches. He leaned his staff up against the bed and tried to get comfortable... He was so used to his sister climbing in and requesting some sort of story before bed and Jack knew he was definitely going to miss doing that. He silently hoped his little sister had the magic needed to get into this school... No one in his family had ever been magical in the slightest and he knew about the slang used to define someone without any 'pure' magical blood. Jack cringed at the thought of being called something so offensive and pulled the sheets over his shoulders hoping that he would have plenty of classes with his three new friends despite being in Gryiffindor's natural enemy house.

The morning brought with it the smells and sounds of magic. The first class of the day was Charms where the teacher with a scraggily black beard had been allowing several lemon scented candles to burn in the classroom.

The first graders had made their way to that class, most of them got to see the older students in the courtyard practising, studying and portraying what they were so eager to become.

Merida had seated herself in the middle of Rapunzel and Hiccup on the bench in the Charms class near the back of the room. The three friends were nervous; as soon as Jack walked in with his new green Slytherin robes they waved him over.

Many people shot out odd glances and scowls; a Slytherin, friends with three Gryiffindor's? Not likely...

"So how's your common room?" Jack asked settling in beside Hiccup.

"It's big, there's a huge fireplace in it and there are dorms in the towers and most of the older students are nice enough." Hiccup replied.

Merida sighed, "They have giant curtains over each bed, and I thought my bed was goin' ta swallow me whole."

Rapunzel smiled, "Was yours pretty much the same to that?"

Jack shrugged, "Lots of black and green...little creepy but definitely big."

Merida arched an eyebrow, "I didn't actually see where the Slytherin house went off to, all the other houses used the staircases but not yours..."

Jack sighed, "The Slytherin common room is located near...well in the dungeons."

Merida arched an eyebrow, "Huh, that's odd."

Jack nodded, "Yeah and our rooms have iron bars around them."

Hiccup and Merida snorted at Jack's sarcasm as Rapunzel took it seriously with a look of concern.

Merida tapped her shoulder, "He's just pullin' your leg."

Rapunzel broke out into a smile as she understood and gave Jack a tired look, "You're a trickster."

For the rest of the year they remained friends, Gryffindor won the house cup by one point that Jack had graciously allowed Gryffindor to steal from Slytherin. Jack had still kept to himself in his house because he was nervous about being discovered as a mud blood...

 

Second year Hiccup brought Toothless to school and Gobber took care of him while he was mostly in school, the friends would venture out to study in Toothless's company and Merida would bring her bow to shoot fish for the dragon's lunch. Hiccup had been in Quidditch for a week now and really didn't like it as much as Merida did, she wasn't on the team but she wanted to try out once a spot became free. Hiccup began dating Astrid after he made a lucky save on a match against Ravenclaw and although Astrid seemed a little rough around the edges, Merida and her got along fine. Merida would never tell anyone that she was jealous though...during this Rapunzel and Jack began to notice their feelings towards the other but neither knew the other felt the same way so their crushes on each other remained silent.

Third year rolled by quickly after Slytherin won the House Cup but lost the Quidditch cup, Merida and Jack got into a tense fight for the first three months of school and that was when Jack warmed up to a few select Slytherin's who were like him, Alessa and Frank who kept to themselves for the same reasons Jack did. Jack's mudblood secret was still sealed and he almost was found out at the end of the year when people began to wonder why he never got any magical mail. Hiccup began to help Gobber with the new dragon arena built at Hogwarts and many of the kids were excited for it to open in the fifth year after the construction and populating was finished.

Fourth year Rapunzel was brought home for the first few months of school until Gothel finally let her return, by this time rumors had spread about a force rising up from the shadows but no one really paid too much attention. Near mid-year Hiccup had quit the Gryffindor Quidditch team and opened the spot up for Merida who spent a full month in training to make sure she got the spot. She did but while practising, Jack was immediately noticed by his two fellow Slytherin Prefects who made him the Slytherin Seeker. Jack had to admit that he didn't have the money to buy a broom and the secret got out that he was muggle-born.

The rest of the year Jack struggled to stay away from his own house as they mocked him daily, he spent his days with Hiccup in the dragon's ring, with Merida on the Quidditch field or in the library with Rapunzel. He had been postponed to play for the Slytherin team because the house didn't want a mudblood to play for them; by the end of the year Jack had seated himself at the Gryffindor table and cheered among the loudest when Gryffindor won the House Cup along with the Quidditch Cup.

Fifth year, autumn went by fast as the bullies of Slytherin stopped being so harsh and agreed to let Jack play the first match in winter since they had shamefully lost both the House Cup and the Quidditch Cup to the Slytherins.

The dragon arena was set to open around the end of winter and it would be just in time for the Tri-Wizard tournament...

The four friends laughed as the snow began to fall outside Hogwarts.

The moon was full in the sky and it shone down on them like a welcoming beacon.

"You're just jealous because he's on the team and he didn't even have to try out." Rapunzel giggled.

Merida gasped, "I am not!" She took a breath as her loud response caused her friends to laugh.

"I am simply statin' that the Quiddich Cup is always Gryffindor's win, and there is no way I'm gonna let it go to you Overland."

Jack grinned, "Well you don't have to let it go to me...I'll just take it."

Merida let out a frustrated growl, "Seriously you don't even like Rusty or Jen so why'd you join the team?"

Hiccup sighed, "There's no way you missed it Merida, I know it when I see it...Jack loves flying." He was referring to his dragon training experience.

Everyone had known that Toothless was Hiccup's legendary dragon and the first trained Nightfury in existence! Hiccup hadn't taken to the broomstick method of flying but as soon as they saw him on Toothless they knew that he was born to fly.

The same could be said for Jack, he had been simply fetching a stray ball for Merida's practise and before he knew it the two Slytherin prefects had caught him and told him to join the Slytherin Quiddich team as the new seeker.

Merida was one of the chasers and was renowned for her brute force on the field, but the new attention on Jack effortlessly getting a post in his house's team was infuriating. Especially since Merida had spent a month training intensely before she tried out for the team.

Rapunzel patted Merida's back, "You are still a really good Chaser, it's just that Jack is a Seeker...the Seeker can win the game with one move so it's a lot more drastic to be thrown into that position on the field..."

Merida rolled her eyes as Jack grinned with pride. "Oh he only got in because Slytherin has a poor team as is; the standards for Gryiffindor's team gotta be tightly woven because we're the better team."

Hiccup groaned. He was on the Gryffindor team for his first two years until he was allowed to let Toothless come along to Hogwarts, he much preferred his dragon friend to the fast-paced and violent game of Quiddich. He had left his spot leaving one open for anyone who wanted it really but Merida had blown away the other young Gryffindor kids who had tried out as well. Merida really regarded Jack's new interest in flying as some sort of competition one that only seemed to make Jack push it further.

Jack arched an eyebrow, "Don't fuss about it, the tournament begins in a few days, then you can mindlessly chase the Quaffle to your heart's desire...it won't matter if I catch the snitch."

Rapunzel kept Merida from slapping the back of Jack's head. "Come on guys, no matter which house wins...this is a good night...we shouldn't be arguing over something so petty."

Merida seemed to nod reluctantly she shot Jack a playful scowl, "We'll argue later."

Jack chuckled and took a seat on the grass along with his three friends.

Jack had brown hair and eyes, he was shorter that almost everyone the first year at Hogwarts but after the third year he began to grow like a sprout and by now he was about half an inch taller than Hiccup and three quarters of an inch taller than Merida and Rapunzel. This made Merida furious after she had teased him mostly for being a shorty. He wore his own clothes, something rare in Hogwarts but it was the day before Christmas break and everyone became slacker with dress attire.

Jack was wearing his blue sweater with brown pants, he had no shoes on but that wasn't anything new. His mother had always had financial problems and Jack grew up mostly without a pair so he had gotten used to not wearing any unless there was snow on the ground.

Hiccup had brown hair and green eyes; he wore a green tunic under his fur pelt vest with loose foot wrappings and dark brown pants. He had a thin line of freckles across the bridge of his nose.

Merida wore her favourite green pants with her black long sleeve shirt and leather woven belt. She had brown slim fitting boots and her hair was in its usual uncombed state. Red curly hair sprung out of her head and some fell just in front of her turquoise eyes. She had always excelled in spells and charms since she was so accurate with a bow she transferred the accuracy down to wand motions, movements and casting angles making her a deadly duel opponent.

Rapunzel had on her black school skirt with a pink t-shirt and over it she had her Gryffindor black robe. She wore purple slippers and on her shoulder sat a familiar green chameleon named Pascal. She was usually light hearted and didn't mind still being in the school uniform especially since it had taken her years to convince her mother to let her go to Hogwarts and now in their fifth year it seemed like she still hadn't found all of the wonder of being with her friends in a magical school in the open place.

The friends sat on the grass; Hiccup had begun pulling out the blades of frost covered grass and piled them absent mindedly.

"I hear that there was quite a commotion today in potions." Merida began.

Rapunzel sighed, "Aw did the Professor notice we were gone?"

Jack shook his head, "No the two of you hadn't even been called on the attendance yet when I had gotten myself detention after the holidays."

Hiccup huffed, "Yeah and took about ten points from Gryffindor and Slytherin."

Merida punched Jack in the shoulder, "just because Slytherin looses points doesn't mean you have to drag us down!"

Jack chuckled, "I was only talking to Hiccup about his bringing some more for us to try to ride and then the professor slammed down his wand and growled at me for getting off topic."

Hiccup rolled his eyes, "Then you said that class hadn't even started to there was no topic to get sidetracked from."

Rapunzel and Merida giggled as they pictured the look on Professor Pitch's face when Jack made that retort.

"At least you stood up to him, he's always hated us." Rapunzel sighed.

Hiccup arched an eyebrow, "He hates everyone."

Merida nodded, "Yeah but ever since we started school here he challenges us, we look at him wrong in the classroom and he snaps."

Jack shrugged, "Well you did accidentally blow up your sleeping potion in class what, second year?"

They laughed remembering how everyone had passed out for five hours and found Pitch still snoring in front of the class. Someone had the nerve to take a moving picture and posted it all over school while the four friends he deemed responsible-Jack, Merida, hiccup and Rapunzel-were taken twenty points from each as well as a month of detention.

Jack paused as his friends continued to banter about the other teachers. He stood as a flash of white light caught his gaze, he gasped. "Run!"

Within seconds of the friends looking up in confusion at Jack there was an explosion at the east section of the school behind them.

Multiple white and green lights were being catapulted at the school and as students poured out the North side screaming the four friends scrambled to get on their feet as dark figures raced towards them.

They drew their wands but before they could react an explosion at their feet sent them flying.

Jack's eyes opened slowly as he sat up the wave of nausea hit him, he saw Hiccup laying unconscious a ways away with his leg bleeding with shrapnel sticking out.

Merida was dragging herself to Rapunzel who was the furthest from them and the closest to the new foes.

Jack pulled himself to his feat to counter their spell aimed at Merida and Rapunzel. As the girls turned to see Jack counter the spell that could have disarmed them they watched in horror as a hooded man flung out his wand and a white light tipped with green tint shot out at Jack. It was a curse, one of the unforgivable ones just by seeing how Jack reacted. The blast did not move him, it hit him and he arched back in overwhelming pain as his body seized uncontrollably.

He let out a cry of agony and Hiccup's eyes opened in terror, he felt his leg's throbbing pain and aimed his wand in the sky hoping that Toothless would see it and come to their defense.

Another man disarmed Hiccup and placed his foot on his throat. He turned to see Merida being thrown back and Rapunzel being grabbed by the hair. The dark figure pulled out the gleaming blade and cut the hair upwards as Rapunzel screamed in fear. As the man tried to send a curse at her a dragon's roar sent the men scattering. The purple blasts of flame attacked them and three were killed instantly. One wounded man groaned as the dragon pinned him and let out a deafening screech.

Once the men had scattered the cruse on Jack had released him from the grip, he had been standing there growing limp, his brown hair turned a stark white and his eyes a bright blue. His skin slightly more pale he blinked as his breath became heavy and his shoulders sagged.

Merida slowly stood grunting at her small scrapes and bruises, she staggered to her feet as she saw Rapunzel with short brown hair, tears down her face as she watched Jack stumble to his knees with a thud and fall on his side. He began to hyperventilate as his lungs tightened abnormally and his brain flashed with a pain so raw it kept him from moving or screaming.

Hiccup felt the dark edges of his vision surrounding him as Toothless knocked the live attacker unconscious and bounded over to him with worry.

Hiccup was helped to his feet by Merida and Rapunzel, they pushed him onto Toothless and Hiccup looked at his torn up leg, he couldn't move it... He swallowed as his throat tightened with panic.

Rapunzel attempted to put a hand on Jack but a wave of blue magic lashed out and she screamed. She was unharmed but they knew that moving Jack wasn't optional.

The faint cries of the teachers attempting to collect students were heard near the north.

"HELP!" Merida screamed.

The two girls made their wands shoot signals into the sky until a flock of teachers raced to their position.

Jack was now withering and squirming at his body contorting without permission.

Professor Tooth whispered a spell and shot it at the blue circle encasing Jack.

By that time Jack was slipping into darkness, as the blue energy around him faded so too did he...

The Professor leaned down and checked the student's pulse as she recoiled from touching the icy skin.

Within the hour the hospital was overflowing with kids. Those with small cuts and bruises were being escorted out of beds for those knocked unconscious or those who fainted during the attack.

Hiccup was lying on a bed starring at his leg as it was being wrapped in a cloth.

Rapunzel was going down with a fever and being spoon fed medicine as she starred up at the ceiling in disbelief at losing her hair.

Merida had a dislocated shoulder and it was being snapped back into its socket when Hiccup was knocked unconscious. The nurse wheeled him into a surgery room to amputate his torn up and infected leg.

A few hours passed and Hiccup was still out, Jack was still out, Rapunzel watched as they replaced Hiccup and his left leg was wrapped with stitches...a stump just below his knee.

"Oh god." Rapunzel cried.

Merida hugged her friend as best as she could with her right shoulder throbbing and held in place by a sling. She waited with Rapunzel until Hiccup woke up and simply nodded at his lost leg. The girls noticed why he was so dismissive of it when they got a real good look at Frost.

His hair was white, they had believed it would be just from the lighting outside but it was really white and silver, his skin really ghostly pale and his figure seemed to be slightly slimmer as if the life had been sucked out of him.

Three nurses had wrapped his entire body in casts, all of his bones had been broken and his body temperature was still at zero degrees.

Over the three weeks it took to heal Hiccup's stump and get him walking in his own false mechanical leg he and Gobber had designed, he was going to class along with Merida and Rapunzel.

Jack had still not woken up once since that night, and as the month passed they found themselves doing their homework on his bedside as slowly the broken bones were mended and the casts came off.

Jack's eyes twitched but his friends sat near his bed without notice.

"Charms were really great today..." Rapunzel managed, her hand absently went to play with her hair which was now short and brown since the evil men had cut it.

"I think I'm going to get some supper." Merida sighed as she stood; Hiccup nodded to follow and looked back to Rapunzel who didn't move. "You want us to bring you something back?"

Rapunzel shook her head, "No thanks."

Hiccup shrugged and left the hospital wing with Merida making sure he was steady in walking.

Rapunzel jumped at the sudden noise when Jack's eyes bolted open and he sat up in a panicked state, he was disoriented and fell off of the bed by accident, he was shirtless, several hookups onto his chest that tugged off when he fell and his blue gym shorts.

Rapunzel ran to his aid and Jack blinked as his eyes burned.

"It's alright Jack, you're okay!" Rapunzel calmed as she stroked Jack's head, Jack sighed heavily with his eyes still wild with fear he hugged her and she blinked back tears of joy. As she stroked the back of his head she cooed him and she hardly noticed she was rocking him slowly back and forth.

Her warm body and breathing calmed him; the slight rocking steadied his nerves. His eyes hurt, it was cold in the room and he felt irritated that he couldn't shake the feeling of it.

Rapunzel helped him up as he staggered up to get back onto the bed, he sat up against the headboard and sighed deeply, feeling a rush of energy fall over him like he was being rejuvenated he cracked a small smile. "Hibernating sucks."

Rapunzel giggled as she held Jack's hand, the two looking into each other's eyes they released any reservations and their lips met eagerly. The kiss was short but it satisfied the feelings both had been holding in since second year.

"I'm glad you're awake." Rapunzel smiled.

"Me too...so...how are Merida and Hiccup?" Jack swallowed as he remembered the damage Hiccup had on his leg...all that mess of blood...

"They're just fine; actually they left for the dining hall not too long ago." She admitted.

Jack nodded slowly, "I just...I thought I saw Merida hurt her shoulder...and Hiccup's leg was torn up bad."

Rapunzel squeezed Jack's hand. "I'll go get them, they'll be so happy you're awake." She stood and gave Jack a reassuring look before she went off to get their two other friends.

Jack took a deep breath, he looked to the ground and cautiously placed his foot on it, he wanted to walk. He was sturdy enough and he spotted a fresh white t-shirt at the end of his bed, he pulled it over his head and put on a pair of his pj pants that were laying there. Without a brighter thought he walked out of the hospital wing and down the hall, no one was in it, most were in the library or the dining hall...some sort of announcement was proven by the rows and rows of flyers announcing that there was one.

Jack continued down the hall and on the grounds, he ended up in the spot exactly where he had been innocently sitting with his friends when the commotion started. He retraced his steps while his blue eyes kept their gaze on the ground as if he saw some invisible prints he had left there. He stopped to where he had been hexed and felt a pulsing energy, with no better idea he began to dig with his bare hands. Once he had been digging for a few minutes Jack found what his hunch had unknowingly told him. He dug under the thin stick-like object but knew it was no such thing once the cool power pricked his fingers. He dug around the shape and as Hiccup, Merida and Rapunzel came running out calling his name ecstatically Jack heaved it out of the ground.

A staff looked like a Sheppard's crook but a thin layer of frost coated it with a magical feel that Jack knew was natural. He stood and looked at Hiccup's leg and without a better thought pulled his friend in for a tight hug.

Hiccup laughed at the random gesture as Merida stopped mid-lecture that no one seemed to be paying attention to anyways.

"What are you doing out here?" Rapunzel asked eyeing the staff.

Jack let go of Hiccup and shrugged, "I really don't know...cool staff though right?"

Merida huffed at Jack's dismissive behaviour as Rapunzel and Hiccup laughed.

"Ya know ye almost died, why all this crazed behaviour, you're gonna get labelled a loon!"

Jack sighed, "I missed you too Scottie." He pulled Merida in for a hug like he had previously with Hiccup and Merida groaned, "You've lost it Frostbite..."

Jack laughed, he picked up the staff, "What do you think the odds are that this thing saved my life?"

"Huh?" Hiccup frowned.

"Some staff just buried right where I happened to get hexed; I mean I'm pretty sure I should have died."

"There was that blue shield around ya; it wouldn't let anyone touch ya." Merida commented.

Rapunzel nodded, "Maybe it did..."

Jack grinned, "The hex felt cold...this staff practically emits frost...as far as I know I'd say this staff took the blunt of the blow..."

"It might have morphed the hex...made it into something of a transformation rather than an attack, it would explain why your eyes and hair changed."

Jack froze, "My what?"

Rapunzel pulled out a small mirror and showed Jack as his eyes widened in surprise. His jaw dropped and his friends felt a pang of sympathy that Jack hadn't known that he had changed.

"Jack...its okay." Hiccup reassured.

"Definitely not what I was expecting...I look pretty good in white huh?" He smirked.

Rapunzel giggled.

Merida frowned, "Ya look like a senior."

Jack grinned, "I even have a cane to go with." Jack slouched his back over and walked pigeon toed as he impersonated an elderly man and the old raspy and wheeze of a voice, "Get back to class you whippersnappers, time's a wastin'!"

Everyone erupted into laughter as the head nurse raced outside, "Jackson Frost Overland you get your butt back in the infirmary for observation if you want to be released is that clear?"

Jack continued his impression as he waddled over to the nurse. "I was just tellin' these youngsters to help me back, I feel so old in my bones."

The nurse cracked a smile, "You're humor definitely hasn't suffered...let me just make sure you have no side effects and you can go to the last few minutes of supper."

The check up didn't take long and Jack had changed into his Slytherin robes faster than ever, his friends laughed and walked with him, all of them sat at the Slytherin table ignoring the hushed remarks about the Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor invading their table.

Hushed whispers of other students filled the room at Jack's appearance but he paid no attention to them.

He dug into his food with a gusto that surprised his friends and he slowed down upon their confused looks.

"Are you breathing in-between bites?" Merida teased.

Jack nodded with a signature grin, "You're right, I need to watch my girlish figure because no one else will."

His friends and the Slytherin's who had heard the remark roared with laughter, everyone relaxed that their friend, despite coming so close to death, had still kept his wonderful retorts.

"Where did you get that staff Jack?" Alessa asked; she was one of the few Slytherin's that Jack was friends with on a closer level and Jack simply shrugged in response.

"I dunno; I just figured it would complete my look."

Alessa rolled her eyes, "okay Jack Frost."

Jack's eyes widened, "I know right? I am the spirit of winter!"

Merida gaped, "Ya know that's just a myth right?"

Jack nodded, "Yeah I am pretty legendary."

Hiccup chuckled, "Jokul Frosti it is an honor to sit with you."

Jack winked with a small grin as he continued to scarf down his first real meal in a month and a half.

"So you've missed out on a lot of classes...I can tutor you if you need any help." Rapunzel said with a small smile forming on her lips with a hidden secret hidden behind the meaning.

Jack glanced up and grinned, "Sure." He reflected back on their kiss and knew he wouldn't get much studying done...

Hiccup arched an eyebrow, "I can tutor you too."

Jack and Rapunzel glanced over to Hiccup with surprised looks.

Jack swallowed his soup, "Uhh sure."

Hiccup remained oblivious to the secret between his white haired friend and brown haired friend until Merida casually excused herself as she hid a nudge of his back to follow her, when he glanced back he knew exactly what made the two so surprised to hear Hiccup volunteer to help Jack study. He face-palmed as Rapunzel gave Jack a small blush and smile as Jack too had some pink color to his cheeks.

"I guess I'm not good at seeing the signs." Hiccup admitted sheepishly.

Merida shrugged, "Boy, what has happened to yer eyes, I thought that dating someone like Astrid would make ya know when someone was being forward..."

Hiccup shrugged, "I broke up with her in fourth year...I can't really remember anything else but her forcing herself into our conversations and trying to avoid Toothless."

Merida smiled as Hiccup followed her out of the hall; she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Since ya said you can't see the signs." She walked off with that off-beat march as Hiccup's cheeks heated up, he stared blankly at her.

"Hey, where are you going?" Hiccup called out running after Merida.


	2. Chapter 2

Jack woke up to Alessa calling to him, he rubbed his eyes and yawned, his second day out of the hospital and he was already feeling like himself again. "Yeah?"

"Jack, you're going to be late for breakfast!" Alessa called.

Frank was already slipping on his robes, "There's an announcement at breakfast, everyone's whispering about it like some sort of big thing."

Jack frowned, "Wasn't there an announcement at supper last night?"

"That was just congratulation for Professor Black getting the position for potions." Frank shrugged.

"So he isn't teaching potions anymore?" Jack sounded hopeful. Other than Defence Against the Dark Arts, potions was something else that just came natural to Jack and he rather enjoyed it but the years of Pitch constantly nit-picking him and creating more challenging tests made Jack despise the class.

Frank shrugged, "Apparently he's teaching both."

Jack grunted. "Great...Pitch is kinda like Gobber, he will make us learn from experience."

Frank laughed, "Only difference is that Gobber cares if we get maimed, and Pitch doesn't."

The two laughed as Alessa called them eagerly again and Jack sighed as he slipped into his Slytherin robes.

It wasn't long before Jack had reached the great hall; he waved to Merida, Hiccup and Rapunzel at the Gryffindor table, and began to reassure Frank and Alessa he wasn't experiencing any side effects. Even if it had been a month and a half everyone was still worried he would drop dead or something.

"May I have everyone's attention!" Dumbledore called out.

Everyone silenced immediately and this gave the elderly headmaster a small smile that his students maintained a respect for him. "I have the honor of informing you that the Inter-House Quidditch cup will still be taking place, as we have hired several assistants for the teachers that I will introduce after this announcement. Hogwarts is to be hosting an event...the Tri-Wizard Tournament that will take place till the end of the school year. This tournament has been held every five years at one of the three major Wizarding schools; three champions are to be chosen, one from each school. Now due to the high death toll this tournament has brought...the Ministry of Magic is introducing an age restriction for the contenders. Only those students who are of at least 17 years of age may put their name into the goblet of fire." With a flick of Albus's hand a giant goblet rose from the ground forming a blue flame over the cup. Albus flicked his wand and a small heat washed over everyone as they became aware of the raw power the goblet emitted."

As the students stared into the goblet's fire in awe before the headmaster clapped his hands together and everyone became aware of the line of new teachers to help the school juggle the events of the Tri-Wizard tournament and the Quidditch Cup.

"To my immediate right Professor North, an old friend of mine who will be acting as the assistant headmaster."

North was a burly man with a red coat with fur pelted shoulders; he wore a Russian fur hat that matched his coat, his blue eyes contrasted brightly from his red attire and his stark white beard which was quite lengthy.

"Professor Bunnymund who will be assisting Gobber in the care of magical creatures and the opening of the Dragon Arena."

The students cheered louder due to the mentioning of the dragon arena which they had waited for ever since Hiccup had mentioned it a few years ago.

Bunnymund was an odd creature, he looked like a cross between a kangaroo, a rabbit and a human...

Rapunzel smiled as she recognized the creature was most like a Pooka.

The Pooka had grey hair with a tint of blue, darker shades of fur made intricate patterns on his fir, he had a boomerangs attached to his back by a leather shoulder strap with the colors of Easter?

Jack grinned; he was rather enjoying the new faces of Hogwarts...

"Professor Sandy, he will be helping with Charms!" Albus announced.

The professor was significantly shorter than most people, as tall as the music teacher but his hair was neat. Golden and spiked strangely backwards, his skin almost glowed a yellow tint and his black robe was slightly too long for him until he hovered up a little ways so it wouldn't drag.

"Professor Toothiana, assistant teacher for Transfiguration!"

Toothiana was something else, she was half humming bird and half human, and her body was covered in feathers smoothed to her body, green, blue and violet mixes. Larger feathers were on her head and a dominant yellow one stretched from the bridge of her nose and back. Her wings were like a fairy's and the black robe only made her colorful appearance stand out more.

"Professor Phil! He will be helping Mr. Flitch."

The Professor Phil was a yeti...

Everyone clapped slowly as they gaped at the size of the guy.

"Now, those from the Academy of-"

"I can't believe a Yeti is going to be roaming the halls as a caretaker!" Merida moaned.

Jack laughed, "I think it's pretty cool, I mean have you guys ever seen a yeti?

Hiccup sighed, "I just hope Prof. Bunnymund lets me see Toothless...Gobber's always been the one that let me go even when class was on."

"I'm sure he knows that you're a vital part in the Dragon's Arena being built at Hogwarts. "Rapunzel reassured.

Jack snorted, "And if Peter Cottontail doesn't let you...I may just have to pull a few pranks to change his mind."

"Guy's we're gonna be late for Defence against the Dark Arts." Merida sighed.

Jack arched his eyebrow, "Slytherins have that class too?"

"Yup, says right here that Slytherin's and Gryffindor's both have D.A.D.A and then...Slytherin's have Transfiguration with Hufflepuff."

Jack grinned, "Good, haven't pranked Claus in a while."

Rapunzel and Hiccup sighed at the thought of the small Hufflepuff student, Claus. He didn't mind Jack and so Jack took it upon himself to prank him even though Jack never did it to bully, in fact the one class where another Hufflepuff and a Slytherin began to tease Claus, Jack had given them each a hex that made them puke up slugs for an hour.

"So you heard that yesterday at supper Pitch was given D.A.D.A teaching position?" Merida informed Jack.

Jack nodded, "Frank told me, I thought it was bad enough when he was teaching potions."

The four friends took one deep breath before they walked into their classroom, there were only a few Gryffindor students sitting spread out in the classroom.

Jack grinned at the seating arrangement, the desks were in straight rows...

Hiccup grabbed a seat in the end row near the back, Merida sat behind him taking up the last seat of the row. Rapunzel sat across from Hiccup and Jack took the seat behind her, waving over Frank and Alessa as they took seats near Jack.

"Did he sleep well?" Rapunzel asked as she leaned over to Alessa.

Alessa shrugged, "Frank was the one sleeping with him."

Jack, Merida, Hiccup, Frank and Rapunzel all bursted out laughing as Alessa blushed. "Okay I meant they were in the same dorm, I was in the girls..." She groaned.

Merida giggled, "I never pinned you two like that."

Frank rolled his eyes, "Jack slept fine, DunBroch."

"Yeah but you kept hogging the blankets." Jack sighed sarcastically.

Everyone erupted into laughter as Alessa put her head down in defeat.

"I see that you've taken it upon yourselves to ignore the start of the class." Pitch growled.

Everyone quieted down and Jack simply rolled his eyes.

"Keep yourselves controlled or I will be taking house points." Prof. Black snapped eying Jack's blatant disregard for his authority.

Pitch turned and walked to the board, "Now since we're on the topic of this...Tri-Wizard tournament we will be studying the more severe aspects of Dark Magic."

The room remained silent.

"Can anyone tell me how many Unforgivable Curses there are?" Pitch sneered.

Rapunzel, Merida and Hiccup lowered their heads with eyes wide in disbelief at the topic Pitch chose the class to learn about.

Jack arched an eyebrow in confusion.

"Three, sir." Rapunzel responded in a shaky voice.

"And they are so named?" Pitch turned to the board to mark his words.

Rapunzel swallowed. "Because they are unforgivable. The use of any one of them will-"

"Earn you a one way trip to Azkaban." Prof. Black finished. "Correct, now the minister says you're too young to see what these curses do. I say different." Professor Black set down the chalk with an aggression that the students gulped at.

The teacher turned to face his class and took a step towards them, "You need to know what you're up against; you need to be prepared..."

Merida pulled out the gum from her mouth and stuck it under her desk causally.

"You need to find another place to put your gum other than the underside of your desk Ms. DunBroch!"

Merida groaned in a whisper, "No way, the man can see out the back of his head..."

Pitch growled and leaned forward as a challenge. "I can hear across classrooms!"

Pitch strolled through the rows of desks and stopped at Hiccup who seemed to shrink in his seat. "So which curse shall we see first?"

"Haddock!"

Hiccup jumped, "Yes?"

"Stand." His voice boomed.

Hiccup attempted to keep his legs from trembling as he listened to the Dark Arts professor.

"Give us a curse." Pitch softened his tone.

"Well there is one, my dad did tell me about...the Imperious Curse." Hiccup replied timidly.

Pitch nodded, "Yes, you're father would know all about that, gave the Vikings quite a bit of trouble a while back. Perhaps this will show you why." Pitch turned on his heel and made for the front of the classroom. He opened a small jar and out crawled a large tarantula. "Imperio!"

The spider jumped over to some students in the front row as the class began to laugh at their shock and fear.

Pitch grinned at it which only made the big four more unsettled.

"She's completely harmless..." Pitch sighed almost upset at the fact.

The spider flew across tables to one where two Slytherin girls sat at, they both squealed in fright.

He sent the spider on top of Hiccup's head as the boy strangely didn't seem bothered. He was used to odd creatures and knew very well that each was usually misunderstood or feared for the wrong reasons.

Pitch grew tired of Hiccup's non-reaction and sent the spider to Rapunzel who recoiled from her desk; Jack sighed and picked up the spider to get it away from her.

"What should I have her do next?" Pitch chuckled. He flicked his wand and the spider soared to the window. "Jump out of the window?"

The class grew silent as Pitch moved the spider over a jar of water.

"Drown herself?" Pitch slowly brought the spider back into his hand. "Scores of witches and wizards have claimed that they have only committed crimes for a dark king...someone who used this curse for his own bidding. But here's the rope...how do we sort out the liars?"

The class kept silent as Pitch looked into the desks of students for another curse. "Another..." He demanded quietly.

Frank raised his hand, "Cruciatus curse..."

"Right! Correct!" Pitch smiled, he retrieved the spider and placed it on the pedestal in front of the room for everyone to see. "Crucio!"

The spider began to make a squeaking noise as its body suffered the torment of the torture curse.

Jack's eyes narrowed as he tensed. Flashbacks of the unbearable agony the dark wizard had placed him under, his body unresponsive as he screamed out for help.

Pitch looked up at Jack and his deadly gaze softened, "Avara Kadabra!"

The spider fell upon a green flash and fell down dead.

Jack's eye twitched as he remembered the cold surrounding him in a deadly embrace, the green light blinding his eyes before he saw nothing...

"The killing curse...there is no one to have survived it...until now." Pitch glared right at Jack who glared back with his light blue eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

Jack had left the classroom in an irritated mood, Alessa and Frank hung back even though they were also going to the same class.

Merida, Hiccup and Rapunzel gave Jack a worried look but knew he wouldn't want to talk about it so they made off for their Charms class with Ravenclaw.

Jack was a blank slate for the Transfiguration class, as everyone else began to file out Jack felt someone touch his shoulder.

"Are you feeling alright?"

Jack looked up to see Professor Toothiana.

Jack stood and collected his books, "Uhm yeah, just tired."

Toothiana smiled a smile that made Jack feel at ease. The teacher was sincere and it gave him comfort to know someone so new to Hogwarts could so easily warm up to him.

"No rest for the wicked." Toothiana winked and flew off to the office of the classroom as Jack grinned and left the classroom to find Alessa and Frank bickering.

"What's wrong?" Jack arched an eyebrow.

"Frank has a stupid idea that's all." Alessa mumbled.

"Prank?" Jack asked with a grin stretching across his face.

Frank smiled proudly, "Of sorts..."

Jack laughed as he slung his arms around his two Slytherin friends, "Alright, Care of Magical Creatures can wait, let's here this prank!"

Hiccup frowned as he looked around the group of students near the site of where the dragon arena was being built.

Bunnymund hopped around as he taught the students about a new creature, some sort of egg with legs.

"Where's Jack?" Merida asked in a whisper.

Hiccup nudged Alessa who leaned closer to hear what he had to say.

"Where's Jack?" Hiccup asked keeping his voice down.

Alessa shrugged, "Same place as Frank."

"He was a little out of sorts after D.A.D.A..." Rapunzel commented.

Alessa nodded, "Bet he didn't absorb a word in Transfiguration, didn't even notice Claus when the boy had waved at him."

"So he's skipping this class?" Merida frowned.

The three friends were surprised; the four of them weren't usually in the same class, Jack being in Slytherin while the rest of the four were in Gryffindor so they barely ever skipped an opportunity to have class together.

Alessa shrugged, "I know that Rusty and Jen told Jack to be at the Slytherin Quidditch practise, and I don't think he'd miss it."

Merida narrowed her eyes, "Ah...practise before the game against Ravenclaw."

"Merida...you will cheer for him won't you?" Rapunzel sighed.

"It is his first game; he's been waiting for a whole year to be on that team." Hiccup added.

Merida rolled her eyes, "Ok, only because I want to prove that the Slytherin pure-blood elitists are a sac of stupid."

Alessa smiled, "Never thought I'd see the day that you'd cheer for Slytherin."

"When the time comes that you play my Gryffindor teammates I won't."

Hiccup and Rapunzel laughed at Merida's grim look and she rolled her eyes at her dismissive friends.

Jack hadn't really been able to explain why but that staff he had uncovered also served as a nifty broom. He had flown circles around Rusty who only groaned at his child-like behaviour.

"Don't push it mud-blood." Rusty muttered.

Jen scowled at Rusty and nudged him aggressively, "As team Captain anyone who discriminates by blood to our new seeker will be kicked off of the team."

Jack didn't catch what Rusty had said but he felt better knowing that Jen seemed to have matured about it.

Rusty glared at Jack but kept his mouth shut and Frank emerged to the stands laughing.

Jack grinned and flew over to him not noticing Merida, Hiccup, Rapunzel and Alessa walking over from the far side of the stand.

"Is it ready?" Jack steadied himself to hover in front of Frank.

"All is ready to go, just hope it doesn't bother the game." Frank replied.

Alessa rolled her eyes at her housemates prank plan as the other three frowned in confusion.

"What would bother the game?" Merida asked.

Jack and Frank were caught off guard but Jack regained his pleased expression quickly. "Oh you'll see."

"Don't get your house angry, I bet they're already in a bad mood seeing how Lester isn't going to be playing as a beater." Hiccup sighed.

Frank arched an eyebrow, "Wow...didn't think you followed Slytherin Quidditch stats."

Hiccup narrowed his eyes, "It's for Jack."

Rapunzel giggled, "And Merida wanted to scope out the competition."

Merida and Hiccup reddened with embarrassment and irritation that Rapunzel had given away their little secret.

"What? I want to know who I'm up against!" Merida fumed.

"My stats aren't up yet are they?" Jack asked as he causally leaned back.

"Well no, but that's because this will be your first game." Hiccup pointed out.

The friends looked to the other stands as they began to fill up, the Slytherin players began to fly down to their dressing room while the game was set up. Blue and Green filled the stands.

Hiccup and Merida went to sit by fellow Gryffindors' while Alessa and Frank left to join their house in the stands.

"Jack?" Rapunzel asked.

Jack flew closer to her, "Yeah?"

She leaned in and gave him a quick peck on the lips, "For good luck."

Jack grinned, "Won't need it but thanks." He nipped at her nose and flew to join his teammates as Rapunzel giggled and went to join Merida and Hiccup.

Merida gave Rapunzel a mischievous smile, "What was that all about?"

Rapunzel blushed, "Uhm...just for luck."

Hiccup groaned, "You said I was bad with signs."

Merida elbowed him playfully, "I was only teasing."

Hiccup gave his friends a toothy smile as they laughed at the silliness of their arguments. Merida brought the two in focus to the players who mounted their brooms.

"Is Jack riding his staff?" Hiccup frowned.

Rapunzel shrugged, "He was when he flew over to the stands."

"What do you suppose it does? Jack believes it would be something special..." Merida leaned forward to get a better look.

"Dear God Hiccup, you've grown?" The three friends jumped at a familiar voice.

Stoick squeezed through to sit beside his son as Hiccup laughed and hugged his dad as Stoick gave a nod to the ladies.

It came to their attention that none of their parents had visited Hogwarts after the incident and it occurred to them that perhaps Hogwarts hadn't sent out the letters informing their parents until recently...

"I'm proud of ya." Stoick smiled as he looked at Hiccup's leg. "You made it yourself huh?"

Hiccup glanced down to his prosthetic leg and grinned, "Yeah...Gobber did help a bit."

Merida nudged her friends and pointed to the end of the stands where a brown haired woman with a brown haired little girl were wandering around in amazement. Both had a haunting resemblance to Jack.

"Mrs. Overland?" Rapunzel called.

The woman looked to her and smiled as she led Emily towards them.

"You must be Jack's mom, and you're Emily his little sister?" Merida greeted.

"You can call me Sharon." Mrs. Overland smiled.

The three friends returned the warm smile.

Emily blushed and swayed on her feet, "Merida?"

The friends were surprised the little girl knew her.

"Then you're Hiccup...and Rapunzel?" Emily asked.

Rapunzel nodded.

Emily looked to her toes, "It's just that Jack said you had long blonde hair...but you have the same green eyes."

Rapunzel arched an eyebrow, "Oh?"

"Yeah he says they're like emeralds..." Emily giggled.

Rapunzel blushed as Hiccup and Merida chuckled.

"So this is...Quidditch?" Mrs. Overland asked as she took a seat near the friends.

Emily sat in-between her mother and Rapunzel as she waved to Stoick.

"Yep, Jack's right there the white hair in the green uniform." Rapunzel pointed out.

"He's the seeker." Hiccup added.

"You'll have to forgive me...I don't know much about anything here." Sharon admitted.

"Basically it's his job to try to find a small golden ball with wings, it's called the snitch and it flies around randomly the entire game unless a seeker can catch it." Merida explained.

The whistle blew and the players flew crazed speeds and made desperate throws to get the first point.

Slytherin had possession, Jen tossed to her teammate who tried for the shot but it was easily blocked. Ravenclaw had just got the Quaffle when suddenly the stands were misted with green.

The game continued even though everyone in attendance was now dyed green, the colors of Slytherin.

Frank's laughter was heard over the moans and the three friends groaned at the realization that this was the 'prank' Jack and Frank had been planning.

The match went on for half an hour, with the score in favour of Slytherin by ten points. Ravenclaw had 60 and Slytherin had 70.

One of the Ravenclaw beaters flew past Jack and as he did he made a remark that sparked a new enthusiasm. "Can't wait to hold the Quidditch Cup!"

Jack smirked as he caught sight of a golden little flicker of light. He flew towards it with a blazing speed that alerted the Ravenclaw seeker that he had discovered the snitch.

Rusty cranked up his head and saw the seekers flying into action, he signaled his teammates to let them know it was show time.

Jack pushed himself faster and glanced back to see the Ravenclaw seeker not too far behind. He was an older kids, probably seventh year with dirty blonde hair and a big nose. He had on goggles even though it wasn't raining.

Jack returned his focus to the snitch that darted all over, he mimicked it's course with ease and actually began to get close to it until he noticed out of the corner of his eye a bludger was coming right for him.

Jack dipped to avoid the bludger and it gave the pursuing Ravenclaw an advantage. The Ravenclaw seeker neared the snitch and Jack gritted his teeth and soared upwards to cut off the snitch but it simply flew higher and higher.

Jack followed it with a determination that was seen even from the stands, the clear blue sky showed everyone just how high the snitch was going.

The rival seeker cursed at his slow speed and tried to go faster but nothing worked.

Jack reached out his hand for the snitch but it darted left and Jack strained to steer after it.

At a blurring speed Jack followed the snitch back down to the hoops where the snitch weaved in and out of the hoops as Jack tried to avoid going through them. He wasn't sure if he would be disrupting his teammates if he did so he simply swooped around them and tried to cut off the snitch once again.

This time Jen had the Quaffle and was aiming for the taller hoop, she narrowed her eyes and just as she pulled back her hand to throw the Quaffle, the snitch darted right and Jack followed unaware that he was flying right into the path of the Quaffle.

Jack reached and grabbed the snitch with his left hand and grinned by seconds later the Quaffle smacked him in the side and he went flying through the hoop trying to steady his staff.

Jack managed to regain his balance a few feet from the ground and grinned widely as he held up the snitch. The whistle was blown and as the Ravenclaw house sighed at their loss they also giggled and chuckled about the carelessness of Jen and Jack.

All of Slytherin was rejoicing over the match happily as they made their way back to their common room.

Alessa stopped Jack and pointed over to his friends where Jack saw his mom and sister waiting with smiles on their faces.

Jack grinned and ran to hug them; Emily laughed and touched his hair as he chuckled.

"Just like snow." She commented.

Sharon didn't say anything; she kept on her brave smile.

Jack nodded, "You think so?"

"And your eyes are so blue now..." Emily wowed.

Jack shrugged, "I was...practising my spells and it backfired."

Emily giggled, "You were making a prank?"

Jack nodded again.

Emily smiled, "You always play tricks."

Jack stood to return his mother's hug, "I'm just glad you're safe." She whispered.

Jack rubbed her back reassuringly. "I'm fine."

Sharon brought her hand to cover her mouth as she struggled to stay composed. "The letter said it was a curse...that some dark wizards attacked out of nowhere."

Jack sighed, "Yeah..."

"That you had been hit by two different curses." Sharon continued.

"Mom I'm fine, look at me...it's been an odd year but everything turned out okay." Jack protested as he gave his mother a sincere smile.

Sharon nodded as she sniffled a bit. "This school is so big." She managed.

"You seem nervous."

Sharon smiled widely, "Emily was playing with a bird when she whispered at it and suddenly it...it became a cup."

Jack beamed as he looked down to Emily, "Did you use a transfiguration spell?"

Emily blushed, "Transfiguration?"

"When you turn animals into objects." Jack explained.

Emily nodded, "Does this mean I have magic?"

Jack smiled, "It means next year you're going to Hogwarts."

Sharon beamed, "I actually saved some money and I can buy her some of the supplies now...I saved your old list."

Jack grinned, "No hand-me-downs?"

Sharon sighed, "I couldn't save that much."

Jack chuckled as his mother and sister hugged him again before Phil politely informed them that their train was due to depart soon.

Jack gave them another embracing hug before they left, Jack could see Stoick leaving but he wasn't worried about that. He was worried about the dark haired woman dragging Rapunzel by the wrist into a shady corner of the courtyard.

Jack crept over and peered around the corner as he made sure it was Rapunzel. He held his breath and listened.

"So how do you explain this?" Gothel growled.

Rapunzel hung her head, "I know...but there was nothing I could do, there were dark wizards and they came out of nowhere and started attacking us!"

Gothel let out a snort, "Excuses! I've told you that this world was dangerous but you said you could handle it, I warned you of all of the dangers that lurked in the outside world and you dare tell me there was nothing you could do?"

Rapunzel felt a mixture of resentment for her raging mother, all she had wanted was to get outside to see the real world and when her mother allowed her to go to Hogwarts she accepted the risk. But now more than ever her mother was seeming selfish, as many times as Rapunzel had thought that her hair was a gift to share, Gothel seemed to be hoarding it to herself by every word she spat at Rapunzel and every attempt to get her to come back home.

When Rapunzel didn't respond Gothel rolled her eyes in disgust, "I can't say I'm all that surprised, you were a naive little thing and it was only a matter of time you found out too."

Gothel began to leave for the train as Rapunzel slid down against the wall and buried her face in her knees as she struggled to keep herself composed.

Jack refused to hide any longer; Rapunzel was neglected, blatantly neglected and verbally slapped by her mother. Jack felt a pang of sympathy knowing the girl was always so cheerful and full of heart when her mother simply brought her down with a mere look.

Jack came around the corner and knelt beside Rapunzel, he rested his hand on her shoulder and Rapunzel immediately grabbed onto him and hugged him tightly as she sobbed into his chest.

Jack stroked the back of her head, "It's okay...she has no idea what she's talking about."

Rapunzel shook her head, "She's so confusing...I try to make her happy but she just doesn't care, maybe she's right...I'm not strong enough." She failed to control her tears and broke out into harsher sobs.

Jack realized this went much deeper than one disagreement, far more than a bad day...this was what Rapunzel dealt with all those years she spent locked away in that tower.

"Rapunzel", Jack swallowed as he began to get emotional about the ridiculousness of her statement. The most pain is felt when you see someone you care about succumb to their own doubts through bullying. "You are not weak, you are one of the strongest people I know...there are many types of strengths...in fact I'm sure you have the best of them all."

"What do you mean? What kind of strength can someone like me have?" Rapunzel cried.

"You smile." Jack replied.

Rapunzel pulled away from Jack to give him a puzzled look, tears stained her cheeks she wiped at them and waited for Jack to explain.

"The kinds of people who smile through almost anything, who believe in everything possible because they dream big and they give out a feeling of hope that nothing else can give. You emit that hope and strength like a sun, its heat affects everyone and leaves them warm inside no matter how grumpy or miserable they were. Ask any student here and they will tell you that you are the brightest and most lovely girl in the school because you can be the light in their darkness. You have friends all over this school willing to defend and support you because you have changed their lives in some simple little way that affected their self image in a huge way. Everything you do, everything you are is out of self sacrifice; to accommodate other people and to help them in any means and that takes a type of strength that few people understand."

Rapunzel let out a small laugh, she was speechless. "You think so?"

Jack grinned, "And everyone else."

Rapunzel grabbed Jack tightly again and Jack sighed with relief as he hugged her back.

"I love you Jack." Rapunzel whispered.

Jack felt goose bumps trail all over his body when Rapunzel whispered that into his ear, his stomach felt light and he couldn't talk. "I love you too." Jack managed. It felt like a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders, he wanted to whip around on his staff like a broom and scream out with joy.

Rapunzel let out a small giggle as she pulled away but not too far away, close enough to touch Jack's nose with hers.

Jack stared into her eyes, those bright green eyes like emeralds. They were so eager and Jack felt himself lean in to kiss her. The kiss was long and passionate; Rapunzel wrapped her arms around Jack's neck and pulled him even closer.

"You keep eating each other's tongues and yer not gonna be hungry for supper." Merida crossed her arms.

Rapunzel didn't pull away immediately, the couple had no embarrassment and they both just laughed lightheartedly at Merida's sarcastic comment as they stood and made their way to join Hiccup who was carrying a basket load full of supplies that he seemed to be struggling with.

Merida steadied the toppling basket with one arm and Hiccup rolled his eyes as a small blush appeared on his cheeks. "I just need some of these brought down to the Dragon Area, it's going to be open tomorrow."

"When the other two school's arrive?" Rapunzel guessed.

Merida nodded, "Both schools were runnin' late this year so we did the introductory ceremony without em' it's very strict rules in the Tri-Wizard tournament, the Goblet must be lit on a certain day, the names must be collected on a certain day and the champions chosen must remain in the competition no matter what."

"Powerful magic to make rules as concrete as that." Hiccup commented.

"Well they can't have no scaredy cat whimpin' out like a wee lamb at the last minute." Merida protested.

Jack and Rapunzel grabbed two baskets and raced ahead yelling out taunts playfully.

"I think Rapunzel's mother is a horrible woman." Merida whispered.

Hiccup sighed, "We don't really know who she is..."

Merida shook her head, "I heard everything that wretched hag said to poor Rapunzel, I would have interjected but Jack was listening too, made Rapunzel stop crying and everything."

Hiccup nodded, "They are a good match."

Merida elbowed him, "I'm not getting at that."

"First I can't see the signs and now I'm over paranoid about them?" Hiccup moaned.

Merida smiled, "You just need a little practice."

Hiccup smiled back as they walked with the large and heavy basket.

"So are you puttin' on some sort of a show tomorrow for the grand opening?" Merida asked.

"I'm not sure, I know I am supposed to supervise on Toothless just in case the dragons get too out of control...for the tournament I mean."

"My strong Dragon Tamer." Merida teased.

"Yeah, they don't know how to handle all of this." Hiccup gestured to himself and Merida chortled.

"Uhm...so there's a...an."

"Spit it out." Merida sighed with a giggle.

"There's a Yule Ball for the Tri-Wizard tournament you know..." Hiccup blurted.

Merida nodded with a blush creeping onto her cheeks.

"And I was...I was wondering if you would like to go with me." Hiccup managed.

Merida sighed and looked away, "I don't know...there's a lot of good lookin' boys in this school." She began.

Hiccup arched an eyebrow and dropped the basket. "Wait what?"

Merida laughed, "I'm kidding Hiccup!" She ran around the basket and tackled Hiccup in a bear hug.

"Ouch." Hiccup whimpered.

Merida pinned him down on the grass and rolled her eyes, "Yer such a baby."

Hiccup stared up at her and without any real thought to it he kissed her. Once he pulled away he saw Merida's surprised expression.

"My baby." Merida grinned and kissed Hiccup more tenderly as she let go of his wrists.

They heard a roar in the distance and they got up laughing, Toothless was bounding over to his master with an expression close to a kid running to its parent eagerly.

"You excited?" Hiccup laughed.

Merida petted the dragon's head as it raced back to the arena awaiting attention.

Merida laughed, "Toothless is an amazing dragon." She commented.

"So I guess that was a yes for the Yule Ball thing, you don't mind going with a handicap?" Hiccup joked.

Merida shot him a teasing scowl as he shot one back. "Your leg actually makes you more attractive, it's a battle scar...like you're some kind of war hero Viking." Merida smiled.

Hiccup didn't hide his surprise in this confession as Merida grinned at his reaction.

"Last one there has to eat slugs!" Merida yelled as she broke out into a run.

Hiccup sighed as he ran after her, the clicking of his mechanical leg echoed in his mind. He began to wonder if all of his kisses with Merida would end up with her running off teasingly...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah that last sentence was inspired my an accidental observation


	4. Chapter 4

The Drumstrang School arrived along with the Beaudeux Academy, all lead into the massive stands of the new Dragon Arena. The pit had nothing in it, the chains above them jingled slightly as everyone crowded inside so eager for the project to finally be unveiled.

Hiccup tightened his grip on Toothless's leather reins slightly, "Alright...this is a big crowd." He mumbled.

As the cages let the dragons out they were massive, the audience and students awed at their strength as they climbed all over with aggression. They calmed in the presence of the onlookers, they weren't truly evil spirited but they were still dragons and their small breaths of fire only made the audience more intrigued.

Jack grinned as Merida and Rapunzel sat awed by the display. "Bet you ten bucks Hiccup flies in on Toothless."

Merida scowled, "He isn't a show off like you Frostbite."

Jack shrugged, "I'm just saying that's what he was told to do..." He let out a small chuckle as Merida rolled her eyes.

"This new Dragon Arena houses the most diverse tamed species in the world even surpassing Romania's prestigious credit due to one dragon and it's trainer... Witches and Wizards I present to you, the unholy offspring of lightning and death, the legendary...NIGHTFURY!" Gobber announced.

Toothless leapt into the sky and everyone gasped as the chains of the room were threaded away to reveal an opening in the center where the Nightfury could easily maneuver through with agility and speed. On its back Hiccup masterfully flew and steered the dragon around the audience to fly close to their heads but not quite enough to cause harm. They landed in the center as the Arena's floor began to sink and raise and expand to the size of a vast plain with slightly rocky features.

Everyone cheered as the magic displayed amazed them. The dragons all listened intently as Hiccup motioned them to turn to the audience with a straight stance and when Hiccup raised his hand they shot fire from their mouths above the cage. Toothless sent a small ball of purple flame that expanded over the entire cage which made everyone scream with joy. All these years and the presentation and unveiling of a lifetime had been rewarded to them.

Eating in the hall was harder now that two other schools were sharing their space. Nevertheless it did little to dampen everyone's mood as they ranted about the dragon arena and the lines of students—above the age of seventeen—throwing their parchments with their name into the goblet of fire.

"Stop glaring at the goblet Merida, jeeze it's going to crumble to dust if you keep it up." Jack teased.

Merida scowled, "An age limit...stupid really."

Hiccup managed a smile, "You really want in on that tournament?"

Merida nodded, "Eternal Glory? That practically screams DunBorch right there."

Rapunzel arched an eyebrow, "It screams fatality actually; do you even realize how dangerous the tournament is?"

"Arggg, I could take it..." Merida pouted.

"Hey what's with all the proving yourself act? We know how good you are at spells...it's not like you to just walk into danger." Jack frowned.

Merida shrugged, "It wouldn't be a danger to me."

Hiccup sighed, "You're a terrible liar..."

Merida groaned and buried her head in her arms. "My mother is sending all these letters, she wants me to come home; she's talking about some betrothal to a suitor when summer vacation takes hold!"

"So what? She can't marry you off if you're dating someone." Rapunzel reassured; she sent Merida a sly grin as the princess arched her eyebrow at the relationship Rapunzel had believed she and Hiccup had...

Merida wondered if Rapunzel knew that Hiccup liked her all along...

Hiccup shrugged, "You've clearly never met her parents...they are in a word...persistent."

Merida held back a smile as Hiccup said nothing to correct Rapunzel's assumption that they were 'dating'. It was never said out loud but she supposed Hiccup inviting her to that Yule Ball had something to do with it.

Rapunzel sighed, "Well they just want what's best right? Maybe your mother will settle...I mean it was just sent out to our parents what happened...that night." Rapunzel cut herself off before she said more of it. Honestly it made all of them uneasy for the unexplained attack and ever since Professor Pitch Black had called on it so obviously in class...the reaction it gave Jack confirmed that the subject was more than simply 'touchy'.

Merida made a loud huff of a noise, "I just wish she didn't treat me like I'm a child."

"You are a child, we all are." Hiccup smiled slightly.

Merida scowled at him.

"Not like there's anything wrong with that." Hiccup added quickly.

Jack chuckled but his smile left his face when he felt a chill run up his spine, he heard it...

"JACK!"

Jack turned his head to pinpoint where the voice had come from...nothing. It was his sister's voice for sure...why he heard it; Jack didn't know...

The laughter of Rapunzel and Hiccup seemed distant and faded in his mind as he felt a twitch of pain in his side. Jack stood with his staff in hand he followed the voice as all else seemed less important his vision blurred slightly.

The three friends frowned at Jack who just simply got up and left.

"I'll see what his deal is..." Merida huffed as Hiccup and Rapunzel went over spell books glancing worriedly at the doorway where Merida disappeared out of.

Jack was stumbling but still walking down the empty hallway. He NEEDED to find the voice...

"Jack?" Merida called. She groaned and ran after the boy who ignored her with a glazed look, she gasped as she saw his eyes turn brown. "Jack is everything alright?"

Merida's words all left him except Jack...the word echoed and became increasingly louder until the staff began to flicker a spell of frost slid to the ground sending the area of a small radius completely frozen.

"Do you need to go to the hospital wing?" Merida asked annoyed of Jack's non-answer.

Jack dropped the staff and grabbed her hand as he ran at full tilt.

"Where are you taking us?" Merida frowned.

"The voice is evil..." Jack warned as he attempted to escape it.

From the shadows Pitch grinned slightly, it was never his intention to do this but then again payment always helped motivate his priorities... He picked up the staff and with it he left to his office locking the doors. He pulled out a seeing orb and waved his hand over it to see Jack being brought into the infirmary along with Hiccup, Merida and Rapunzel.

"There are other ways to snuff out a light..." Pitch sneered.

He trailed his fingers along the staff and Jack coiled at the touch of invisible fingers caressing his cheek.

"Don't touch me!" He yelled, everyone stepped back shocked at the aggression in his voice.

Pitch gripped the staff tighter as his magical black nightmare sand soared around the staff with corrupted intent.

Jack breathed harder and tried to stand to leave the infirmary. Protests fell to deaf ears as he pushed past those who tried stopping him, Pitch raised the staff with two hands, smirking at the orb as he watched his puppet.

"What goes better together than cold and dark?" He sneered.

Jack stopped moving as he felt an unpleasant tension in his chest.

Pitch gripped the staff tightly and brought it down on his knee, snapping it.

The snapping of the staff brought about a recoil action in Jack's stomach; he tensed and brought a hand to it as everyone frowned at this behaviour. He looked as if someone had kicked him in the gut...

Jack fell to the ground sweating slightly; he was unconscious.

Pitch manipulated the sand around the staff and let it slowly work to re-seal it; a process that would take a week...at most. But he would have his client's appreciation, for such a transformation was difficult to enforce upon someone...

Rapunzel stared at Jack's sleeping form, an idea formed in her head causing a frown on her worried face. "Where's Jack's staff?"

Merida's head shot up, "Shoot...he dropped it in the hall..." She left to fetch it muttering at her carelessness. She retraced her steps in the busy hall and her eyes swam around for a glimpse of the familiar wooden Sheppard's crook.

"Have ye seen a staff?" Merida asked a few nearby Ravenclaws'.

The Ravenclaws scowled, "Like what?"

"Like the thing Jack was riding when he destroyed ya in the Quidditch match!" Merida shouted.

The Ravenclaws left angrily as Merida tried calming herself; she frowned at her random aggression towards the students... Why was she so angry all of the sudden? She looked at the ground and cursed internally. She KNEW this was where he left it... Someone had to have taken it...or was the staff belonging to someone else? Jack had only dug it up in the ground... What was it doing there? What did it have to do with Jack's miraculous survival and the attack in general... Why did those people attack? Who were they?

Merida balled up her hands into fists and jumped when someone tapped her shoulder.

She turned to see it was Astrid.

"Merida?" Astrid asked.

"Oh uh, sorry I didn't hear you walk up." Merida admitted as she relaxed.

"What's wrong?" Astrid arched an eyebrow.

"Jack's staff...have ya seen it? I remember he dropped it right here but now..."

"That staff he dug up? People are saying it was stolen..."

"Well it's Jack's staff." Merida crossed her arms.

Astrid shrugged, "Whatever, I thought I heard Alessa and Frank talking about it...maybe they found it."

"You just happened to hear them talking about it?" Merida frowned.

Astrid nodded, "In the library...they said something about an old legend and the staff being crafted for something called the Lunar Curse."

Merida nodded slowly, "Thanks..." She walked back to the hospital wing brooding over what Astrid told her.

Rapunzel and Hiccup lifted their heads to her entrance.

"Find it?" Rapunzel asked.

Merida shook her head the scowl still on her face. "I swear I saw it dropped in the hall...I went to the exact place and it's gone now."

Hiccup frowned, "So someone took it?"

Merida shrugged, "Astrid claims she heard Alessa and Frank talking about it in the library as if that's supposed to mean they took it."

Rapunzel and Hiccup's expressions matched her confused one.

"Library? Astrid never set a foot in the library...she's always outside practising her spells...and tackling maneuver..." Rapunzel frowned.

Merida nodded, "I know...she must be lying."

Hiccup blushed slightly, "Uh no she was in there..."

Merida and Rapunzel arched an eyebrow.

"What? Why?" Merida questioned.

Hiccup scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "Uhh...well she was looking for me. She walked right up when I was working on my Potions homework and asked me to the Yule Ball."

Merida's face pigment closely resembled a tomato.

"I told her I had already asked you." Hiccup reminded quickly, he stood to put his hands on Merida's shoulders as she fumed silently.

"Merida it's not a big deal." Hiccup reassured.

"No it's all fine and dandy..." Merida grumped as she slumped her shoulders and scowled deeper.

Rapunzel giggled, "Merida, calm down a little, she's just interested in Hiccup but that doesn't mean at all that he's interested in her."

Merida pushed Hiccup's hands off of her shoulders, "I'm gonna do some flying drills..." Merida mumbled as she walked out of the infirmary.

Hiccup sighed as he shared a concerned look with Rapunzel .

"She's under stress...from her mom and well..." she glanced to Jack who was still sleeping soundly.

Hiccup rubbed his eyes, "She's just so hot tempered...I love her for it but sometimes its ridiculous what she comes up with in that head of hers."

Rapunzel shrugged, "She's always had to prove herself... Maybe she is tired of competing...feeling also that if she doesn't it's weakness. I think we all know how it feels to be tired of fighting for belonging." Rapunzel recalled the many times she begged her mother to have faith in her for leaving the tower...

Hiccup recalled how he tried over and over to show his dad he was a true Viking...the son he had always longed for. "Yeah...you're probably right..."

"Just give her some time; she'll realize how silly this is sooner than you think." Rapunzel smiled weakly.

"I sure hope so..." Hiccup nodded.

Rapunzel and Hiccup had finally decided to find Alessa or Frank...just in case they knew what happened to Jack's staff.

They found Alessa still in the library, sleeping on a book.

"Alessa?" Rapunzel shook the girl gently.

Alessa snorted as she woke and rubbed her eyes. "Oh hey Rapunzel...Hiccup." She greeted with a nod.

"What are you reading?" Rapunzel asked. The book was thick, drawings of complicated spells and their properties along with measurements of energy they emitted. It was the ancient kind of experimentation with magic.

Alessa rubbed her eyes and stared blankly at the book, "Oh...just remembered an old story...looked like Jack's staff but this book just has odd measurements and equations."

Rapunzel and Hiccup watched her walk away groggily as if she was going to pass out right there. "See you laterrr." She mumbled.

Hiccup frowned, "Okay..."

Rapunzel sat in the chair and closed the book to see its cover. It was an extremely old binding, the words were a faded silver and in a different language. Rapunzel huffed and rested her head on her hand as she grumbled at the meaningless symbols.

Hiccup chuckled, "Old Norse." He commented, shifting the book slightly towards himself he narrowed his eyes, "The Lunar Curse."

Rapunzel smiled, "You can read it?"

Hiccup shrugged, "well yeah...Vikings and old Norse are the best of friends."

Rapunzel arched her eyebrow still a bit naive about the sarcastic and playful humor Jack and Hiccup often used.

Hiccup flipped to the first page, "It says...wow." His mouth hung open and he squinted at the stained and ragged paper trying to read the words.

Rapunzel leaned in curiously. "How old do you think this book is?"

"As old as the staff... It says a bunch of gibberish about something called a soul gem...boarder line dark magic it seems... Very...scrambled writing...here it refers to energy sources and here it skips right along to something it refers to as a soul gem..." He flipped the page and scowled. "None of these formulas make sense...and there's no explanation as to what they were trying to do."

Rapunzel frowned, "There has to be something in here that will help us."

Hiccup looked at the next page. "Well this is a petronus...of sorts." Flipping the page their eyes widened at blood stains marked on the page in odd symbols and gruesome pictures and sketches of skeletons. Another page later and they looked at what seemed to be a bunch of empty circles. There were only a few more crude drawings and senseless equations before the other pages were soaked and ripped out of the book.

Hiccup and Rapunzel sighed and pushed the book away.

"I wish Hogwarts had a search engine...some kind of Google." Hiccup mumbled.

"What time is it?" Rapunzel asked.

Hiccup glanced at the clock and panicked. "We've got one minute to get to Potions!"

They took off at full speed out of the library and down the hall. When they reached the classroom they were shocked to find Professor Black was not there. A classroom full of students simply glanced at them and continued to wait while having idle conversation.

Merida was sitting at a desk already and seemed in a good enough mood to wave them over.

"Where's Pitch?" Rapunzel asked as she and Hiccup sat on both sides of Merida.

Merida shrugged, "Came in here and he wasn't...you're lucky." She added with a smile.

Hiccup sighed at the fact that Merida seemed to be happy; at least she wasn't still mad about Astrid being interested in him...

"Looked in the library and Alessa was sleeping on the book called Lunar Curse." Hiccup explained.

Merida nodded, "that's what Astrid said Frank and Alessa were talking about."

Hiccup starched his head. "There's nothing in it but gibberish...some soul gems...petronus and a few...creepy pictures."

Merida frowned at this. "urrggh...ancient books are so useless; overrated pieces of rubbish..."

Rapunzel looked around the room, Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors. She hoped to run into Alessa or Frank in Divination class with Slytherin but Alessa seemed really out of it when she woke up... hey all turned their heads surprised to see Professor North walk in cheerily. "Professor Black has asked me to take over Potions class today...I understand you were working on chapter 45 but just for today I have something special." He smiled with such joy it made everyone feel eager for the first time ever in Potions.

"Everyone today is going to learn how to make egg nog!" North cheered.

Everyone fell silent under confusion.

"What?" North arched his eyebrow innocently.

JACK!

Heat...so much sweat, sticky and bothersome. His spine felt like ice though... He struggled to open his eyes as the voice changed from his sweet sister to a deep growl. Beckoning him into a black pit of smoke and ash.

Jack sat up quickly and frowned, looking around he was in the hospital wing. The nurse fed him a spoonful of something awful and claimed it would help with his nerves before walking out of the room for another matter to attend to.

Jack glanced around and groaned, he had left his staff in the hall...

The nurse came back in, checked his temperature and sighed deeply as he prodded to be able to return to his common room.

Jack grinned as she nodded and he practically jumped out of bed running still in his regular robes. The halls were pretty much packed with the other schools in attendance and Jack ran straight into one of them by accident.

"Ooof!"

Jack rubbed his head, "I'm sorry." He apologized, he looked to see a kid, older, taller, brown hair and eyes. He even had a little goatee starting.

"No worries; I'd want to hide if I turned my hair white." The boy chuckled.

Jack frowned, "I didn't turn my hair white."

The boy scowled, "I hate to break it to ya kid but it's white."

Jack smirked, "Yeah great observation there, I wasn't responsible for it."

"Flynn, you've got to see this, some kid is crying chocolate!" A voice called out to the brown haired boy.

"Sorry pixie, I gotta go." The boy shrugged.

Jack frowned at the humiliating nickname but decided against making a scene about it. He had on a Drumstrang School logo...that explained his asshole like behavior...

Jack avoided human contact until he reached the common room, strangely enough he couldn't find Alessa or Frank anywhere.

"Hey Ocard have you seen Frank lately?" Jack asked.

The light blonde boy scowled, "Why would I pay attention to some mud blood?"

Jack was just about to lay into the guy when Rusty hit the back of Ocard's head. "Knock it off."

Ocard groaned, "Fine...only because he won us the Quidditch match. I last saw him with Alessa in the library...but they're for sure going to be in Divination with those Gryffindors..."

Jack unclenched his fist and muttered a thank you as he scavenged for his textbook and made his way to that class. He would be early...about ten minutes early but he didn't really care at this point. He was slightly relieved that Gryffindor had the same class... Maybe Hiccup, Rapunzel or Merida picked his staff up.


	5. Chapter 5

"So this is the book?" Merida asked.

Rapunzel nodded and checked the doorway to make sure the teacher wasn't going to walk into the classroom and see them 'off topic'. Pitch was known to wreck people's belongings whenever he saw fit...and he saw it fit whenever someone was not paying attention to the studies in his class even when he was out of the room.

"What gibberish is this? Norse?" Merida huffed.

Hiccup cracked a small smile, "Yeah. It will take a while for me to organize these equations...and figure out what they mean but it's better than nothing."

"I guess." Merida sighed.

Rapunzel glanced at the commotion at the doorway. Alessa, Frank and Jack were deep in conversation barely recognizing they were talking very erratically. Rapunzel tried waving them over but they didn't look over to see her and so they sat at the back of the class as they continued to bicker.

Rapunzel was about to walk over to get their attention when a colourful woman fluttered into the classroom humming a tune to herself happily.

"Wonderful, everyone is present." She set her book at the front of the classroom and waved her hand to close the door. "I am your temporary Divination teacher, Professor Toothiana." She wrote on the chalk with a flick of her fingers.

Merida arched an eyebrow, "But aren't you the Transfiguration teacher on occasion?"

Toothiana smiled warmly, "Very perceptive, I am. I specialize in the interpretation of memories." She glanced around the classroom, "Who would like to be a part of the demonstration?"

The class fell silent all for Jack, Alessa and Frank's harsh whisperings in the back.

The professor plumped up her yellow feather and sighed, "Miss...Reacher?"

Alessa snapped out of it and looked up to the professor questionably. "Yes?"

"If you please." She raised her arm to signify that Alessa should give her her hand.

Toothiana sighed, "Tell me of a memory, perhaps we shall start with something you did today."

Jack snorted, "Good luck with that."

Alessa scowled at Jack and turned her eyes to the professor and her face softened, "I actually don't have much to remember...it's all a foggy blur for some reason."

"We thought maybe she had sipped on a spiked drink in the common room this morning." Frank reinforced.

"Then it would have taken effect an hour after breakfast." Jack replied angrily.

Toothiana shrugged innocently, "One of my specialties is to help remind people of things long forgotten. We will do the same procedure in reverse. Tell me Miss Reacher...what can you remember?"

Jack eyed Alessa expectantly but she was too focused on carrying out her teacher's instruction to notice. "I remember breakfast...Astrid asked Frank to help her study for Herbology and so we headed there...I wanted to do something else though. I think it was...for another book related research project."

Hiccup, Merida and Rapunzel frowned. Alessa couldn't remember that? Astrid had told them clearly what she saw Alessa and Frank researching.

"Were you three alone?" Professor Toothiana asked calmly.

"I..."

"Hiccup was there, obviously Astrid too." Frank helped also ignoring Jack's piss poor attitude.

Toothiana nodded, "Do you remember them being there?" She tightened her grip slightly on Alessa's hand and she nodded slowly. "I remember the book..."

Jack glared at her.

"Lunar's..."she stopped mid sentence as her eyes shut and before her vision flashed a grey hue and she grabbed Frank's hand. When she opened her eyes Toothiana was asking her if she was alright and Alessa simply shrugged.

Frank's stare was almost blank.

"You were saying? Frank do you know what the Lunar's is?"

Frank shook his head, "Sorry...I can't seem to remember. Maybe I didn't go to the library." He blinked and the grey hue engulfed his memories. "No...I went to my dorm to find Jack."

"No you didn't." Jack scowled.

Toothiana recoiled, the power of this spell was nothing she had seen before. Their memories weren't just hidden, they were taken and distorted and replaced merged with other false ones. "Perhaps just a nice lecture on the principles of analyzing mist signs." She went up to the black board and wrote quickly while her mind swam with questions. She was definitely going to ask North about this new development.

Rapunzel was out of her desk the second class was over, she saw Jack trying to leave but she grabbed his shoulder and pulled him aside.

"What's going on?" She asked.

"Nothing." Jack frowned, "I just hate liars."

Rapunzel arched an eyebrow, "Liars? They can't remember being in the library? Is that why you're so angry?"

Jack scowled, "No, it's the fact that they had written down a note saying that..." Jack swallowed, "It implied a lot of heavy stuff and as soon as I confronted them about it they acted like they had no idea what I was talking about."

Rapunzel put her hand on his shoulder to calm him, "Jack, what did the note say?"

Jack frowned, a simple glance up at narrowed green eyes and he was giving her the crumpled parchment.

Rapunzel squinted at the chicken-stratch writing.

The next will be a mud-blood,

souls bound and centres marked for eternal torment

there will be no where left to hide

after the fate is sealed

it cannot be altered or changed

with all the might of hope, pray

Darkness you will obey

slaughtering all who would fight against them

Rapunzel glanced up at Jack, "They wrote you a poem?"

Jack shrugged, "It's creepy..."

Rapunzel held back a giggle, "Awww."

Jack frowned deeper, "What?"

Merida and Hiccup slipped beside them as the students were mostly gone now. "What's that ya got?" Merida asked.

"Jack's poem, it's from Alessa and Frank." Rapunzel handed the paper over and the two quickly read it.

"When did they give this to you?" Hiccup shifted uncomfortably.

"Before class." Jack answered.

Merida scrunched up her nose, "Probably some ol' prank."

Rapunzel nodded as Jack and Hiccup gaped in disbelief.

"You can't be serious? Some prank? One that is lacking a punch line? What do they gain by freaking me out like this?"

Rapunzel shrugged, "You play tricks like this all of the time and it amuses you to see them get all worked up."

Merida sighed, "Hiccup does this even have a connection to-" She paused as her vision flashed grey. "I've got to eat soon by God I'm starving!" She rubbed her stomach for effect.

Jack frowned, "See? That's exactly what Frank and Alessa did when I asked them, mid-sentence saying they went to the library and then poof, mystified and confused they cannot remember a single thing. You'd better not be in on this if it is a prank." Jack pointed a finger.

Rapunzel rolled her eyes, "Jack, don't you think you're overreacting just a little? This poem isn't very complicated and it would take much other than a few vague words to spook you."

"Then where's my staff?" Jack asked crossing his arms.

Hiccup shrugged, "Merida lost it in the hallway."

Merida elbowed him hard. "I. Did. Not. Lose. It."

Jack nodded with a small sneer, "Yeah, so my staff disappears, I get bed rest, I start hearing things and now this hardcore threat on paper and you think I'm overreacting?"

Rapunzel arched an eyebrow, "Hearing things?"

Jack paled slightly, "...yeah."

Hiccup glanced between the two, "We did find a..." Hiccup blinked and forced away the odd feeling. "book called Lunar's Curse in the library. Alessa was hunched over it quite tiredly when we found her... We think Astrid heard them talking about your staff." Hiccup pulled out the book and Jack starred blankly at it.

"Can't this wait? I'm gonna chew off me own leg if I don't get something to eat."

Rapunzel frowned slightly and a grey hue entered her vision. "Now that you mention it I'm kinda hungry too...guys let's look over this in the dinning hall okay?" She picked up the book and Jack narrowed his eyes.

Jack was fed up with people filtering out his words today, acting like they had a pillow case over their head. Hiccup saw the irritating look on Jack's face as the girls walked down the steps and he sighed, "We'll figure this out. The book's written in old Norse anyways...a few pictures and equations that's all."

Jack seemed a little appreciative that Hiccup noticed his helpless feeling and managed to give his friend a smile in return. They followed the girls down the steps to the hall.

"So what have you been hearing exactly?" Hiccup asked.

Jack glanced over at his best friend and took a deep breath, "A voice that sounds...almost like Emma... but I know it isn't. It sounds harsh and..." Jack let out a soft chuckle, "I guess evil is the best way to describe it."

"Sounds funny saying out loud." Hiccup nodded.

"And I get this...I don't know there's this whispering voice and I can get so angry for no reason...I shouldn't have acted like that to Alessa and Frank...Rapunzel too."

Hiccup shrugged, "They'll get over it...they think guys have this knack for overlooking their feelings so it gives us extra leeway in case we actually do."

The two boys laughed at this and Rapunzel glanced back at them slightly relieved Jack was in a better mood.

They entered the rowdy hall and noticed there were a few things out of place. Firstly there was less room due to the extra students...that made the hall look smaller some way. Secondly the headmaster and the teachers were acting very giddy.

They sat down and Merida laughed at the source. "North is handing out eggnog...in potions I swear I saw a wee bit of rum...or was it vodka...in that recipe."

"Great, they're partying without us." Jamie joked leaning over to the four.

Everyone laughed at the fact that Jamie, a straight A student and all around good kid was making such a comment.

Jack nudged him playfully, "Don't worry, someone will spike the punch bowl at the Yule ball."

Merida and Hiccup unintentionally made eye contact at the mentioning of the ball and smiled slightly for it.

"You going with anyone in particular?" Jamie grinned.

Jack shrugged, "I don't know...probably won't go at all."

Rapunzel giggled, "Oh really?"

Jack nodded keeping up the facade, "I tend to do better crashing parties than anything else."

Jack felt a cool presence behind him as Merida and Rapunzel looked behind him with stiff expressions.

"Perhaps if you refrained from foolish behaviour and made better use of your spare time, you would pass my class." Pitch cooed at Jack.

Jack frowned and turned around, "Something bothering you professor?"

Pitch shrugged, "Simple observation." He walked away with a smug smile after he got the intended reaction.

Jack sighed tiredly and his eyes followed as he caught Alessa and Frank leaving the hall. "Catch up with you guys later." He said absent-mindedly.

Rapunzel sighed, "You think he's going to ask?"

Merida shrugged, "That boy's got his head in the clouds." She pondered this and grinned, "Nah...his head's under the ice."

Hiccup and Rapunzel smiled in agreement but their ease was short lived. A Drumstrang student immediately took a seat next to Hiccup. He looked older, at least eighteen and had a small goatee sporting. "They, you guys put your names into the goblet yet?"

Merida shrugged, "We aren't of age."

The 18 year old arched an eyebrow, "None of you? I swear you guys look older than that." he rested his eyes on Rapunzel just a second longer making Rapunzel fidget with her finger nails.

"You've already done it I'm guessing." Hiccup rolled his eyes so Flynn couldn't see.

He didn't seem to notice the brown haired boy's snide remark and made a wide and dazzling smile. "Well I wasn't planning on it but I guess I found a reason to."

His eyes kept on Rapunzel who blinked twice before grabbing her cup and taking a drink long enough to hide Flynn from view while she calmed her nerves.

Merida caught the staring and coughed, "Who did you say you were?"

The brown haired boy winked at Rapunzel, "I didn't...name's Flynn Rider."


	6. Chapter 6

Jack glanced around the corner, watching intently.

Alessa was simply talking to Frank about transfiguration; Jack figured there was no reason to remain hidden. He strolled up alongside them and caught Alessa's glare.

Jack sighed, "Alright, I'm sorry. I was just really scared with the weird note and the-"

"Yeah that's nice and all..." Alessa turned on her hell and went off down another hall leaving Frank and Jack alone.

"I don't get it." Jack frowned. "I'm just trying to make things right. I overreacted maybe, but it doesn't mean I didn't have reason to be worried."

Frank scratched at the feeling of sand on his neck. "Well we trusted you and we thought you trusted us..." With that he also began to walk away in the same direction Alessa had left.

Jack's jaw opened, "What do you mean trustED?"

Frank didn't respond.

Jack grunted and was just about to head off to the dining hall again when someone bumped into him.

"Sorry about that." A deep voice chuckled.

Jack internally swore at being knocked into for the second time today. Was he invisible or something?! He calmed himself before answering, "Don't worry about it." Jack looked up to see another Drumstrang patch.

"Hey you're that Quidditch Seeker for the Slytherin's eh Jackson Overland?" The guy beamed.

Jack nodded, "Yeah...you play?"

"A little...I'm Victor Krum by the way."

Jack's inner sports fanatic squealed as he gawked. "No..."

Victor chuckled again, "Yeah."

"They said you were going to try for the games this year." Jack managed to say in-between his moment of awe.

"Well I haven't placed my name in the goblet just yet...but I plan on it. What about you?" Victor asked.

Jack shrugged, "Not quite old enough...besides I've had a crazy enough year without a lethal tournament added in the mix."

Victor arched his eyebrow, "That bad eh? What on Earth could make your year worse than entering the tournament?" He paused, "You weren't one of those students who got attacked a few months back were you?"

"Yeah, me and my friends...just in the middle of the grounds."

"You guys have no idea who did it or why?" Victor was the one who looked starstruck.

"No. You haven't seen an old-looking staff around here, have you?"

Victor grinned, "Most of the staff here is pretty old."

Jack huffed while trying to hide his laugh. "Nice, no I'm taking an old crooked staff, has a hook-like end."

He shrugged, "I thought I saw something like that...crap. What class was that?" It took a moment for him to remember before he answered, "That creepy dark classroom with the yellow candles never lit."

Jack arched an eyebrow, "Dude that's basically Hogwarts for you."

Victor laughed, "Okay the prof wasn't in though, I saw him go into his office though. He was all pasty and crooked teeth."

"Professor Pitch's potion classroom?" Jack frowned.

"Yeah Black or whatever...yeah Pitch Black. Man, his parent's must have hated him."

Jack and Victor were almost on the floor laughing, "You need help getting it?"

Jack nodded, "That would help, come on, I have to get the other's first."

Victor followed Jack into the hall and his face twisted at the sight of Flynn in his spot. Jack whistled and caught their attention.

"My staff's in Pitch's class." Jack said, "You guys coming?"

"What? No way Jack, any other classroom is fine but his? No, don't even think about it." Rapunzel frowned.

Jack arched an eyebrow, "I have to get it, he practically stole it!"

Hiccup gulped, "I can't risk it Jack, and frankly you shouldn't either...Pitch is one of the few teachers that actually may skin you if you break into his room."

Merida rolled her eyes, "I'll help, these gobs of liver are too scared. Besides I was the one who left it in the hall." She got up and Flynn snorted.

"I'm with blondie on this one, you're gonna get caught, I can't risk it." Flynn crossed his arms.

Jack smirked, "Well Flick, I don't recall asking you to come along." With that he, Merida and Victor left the hall.

Most of the halls were quiet even with a few kids wandering around. It made it less intense than if they were completely abandoned.

"That accent, you're from Scotland aren't you?" Victor asked.

Merida nodded, "Ya, Dunbroch. Jack where'd you run into this lad?"

Jack shrugged, "He ran into me, he said he saw the staff in Pitch's class. Oh yeah Merida's a big Quidditch fan by the way." Jack added.

"Merida." Victor repeated with a smile.

"What's that supposed to mean, everyone loves Quidditch."

"Then I'd thought you would have recognized me. I'm Victor Krum." He introduced.

Merida chortled, "Yeah and I'm J.K. Rowling."

"Who?" Victor frowned.

Merida rolled her eyes, "You're a wee bit thick aren't ya?"

Victor chuckled, "You've gotta have muscle to be on such a prestige team, am I right Overland?"

Jack chuckled, "yeah, I feel very twiggish at the moment, shut your trap."

Merida stared at Victor for a moment and scowled, "You really are Victor?"

"You really are from Dunbroch?" Victor teased.

Merida grinned, "What's so interesting about that?"

Victor blushed slightly, "Your mother, Elinor, he's been contacting my dad for a few years now."

Merida frowned, "No way."

"Yeah, I've personally been telling him to call anything off, no offence, I'd be lucky to get a girl like you but I'd rather not be forced into anything."

Merida nodded, "I know what you mean."

Jack glanced around the corner and once the coast was clear he darted into the classroom, Merida and Victor unfortunately found themselves too immersed in conversation to be paying much attention and ended up continuing straight.

Jack glanced around the darkened room and scowled that no one was behind him. "Seriously?" He muttered.

With a deep breath he began to look about the room; it was far too dark to see much but he definitely knew it was here...he could feel it.

Merida and Victor wiped the tears of laughter from their eyes and Merida sighed.

"You're not bad." Victor grinned.

Merida scoffed, "Not bad; I give this world class Quidditch player crucial playing advice and I'm 'not bad'." Merida rolled her eyes.

Victor shrugged, "You know what I meant... Maybe it wasn't a bad thing that our parents planned to set us up eh?" He nudged playfully.

Warning flags set off in Merida's mind and she stiffened. "Uh Victor...you're a nice guy but I've known you for a whole ten minutes."

Victor caught her unease and lowered his head in bashfulness. Scratching the back of his neck he struggled to recover from the blow, "Uh well this probably won't be the only time we hang out right? It's how people lead into things right...to get to know each other."

Merida groaned and rubbed her forehead, "I'd appreciate the friendship...but I am seeing Hiccup, and I'm happy."

Victor seemed to swallow but nodded and cracked a polite smile. "Don't worry 'bout it, I'm fine with friendship."

A loud crash made the two jump and glare at the door of Pitch's classroom.

Merida cursed, "He went in without us?"

They ran to the door but when they opened it they found Jack with his back to them on the other side of the class...it was dark.

"Jack are you okay? What happened?" Merida frowned. She approached Jack as she scanned the room for anything that might have caused the sound and froze once she saw the staff lying on the floor. Black sand was creeping all around a break within it, it was shifting and a small yellow light glowed around the black sand.

"Jack?" Merida called.

Jack's shoulders lowered slightly, he was still shrouded in shadow but she could see his fingers dripping with blood.

Victor's eyes widened at seeing this and Merida pulled Jack by the shoulder to assess the damage. "What did you do?" She gasped as she grabbed Jack's hand and scoured over the skin for any cuts. There were none, she glanced up and met yellow eyes. Her voice and air was caught in her throat as she saw his hair. Black as night. His skin almost greyish and he reached to grab her hand but Merida backed away.

Victor pulled out his wand, "Stay back!"

Merida couldn't believe what she was seeing, it was only seconds later than Jack formed an 'o' with his mouth and blew slowly as his chilly breath left him. The room was freezing now but as Merida and Victor tried to leave they noticed too late that the ground was covered with ice.

Jack blinked as he tried to make sense of the scene before him. He felt warmer...like something itchy was coursing through his veins under the skin. He was vaguely reminded of his hate for beaches...they were too damn sunny... He saw Merida and Victor pointing wands, his vision blurred it sounded like they were calling him names and laughing at him. Jack scowled and tried to ask what they were doing but they fired a spell at him and Jack panicked.

"You're a freak!" Merida screamed. Jack barely noticed her eyes were a daunting yellow.

Merida screamed in fear as cloth touched her arm, a dementor swiftly floated towards them with amazing speed. It looked back to Jack who grinned devilishly and nodded. The dementor grabbed their necks and began to send the hopelessness into their souls.

Victor and Merida struggled to send the patronus towards the dementor and once it hit it simply recoiled into the shadows and another formed.

Jack felt the stinging pain of the spell, why were they hurting him? Jack reached out to stop them but Victor and Merida pressed their backs against the door and hit him with another spell.

Merida aimed her patronus at Jack and this time his yellow eyes flashed away, his hair and eyes reverted to the blue and white she had come to know and his expression of malice turned into confusion and fear.

"Jack?" She choked out.

Jack frowned deeper, "What the hell was that about?" He looked extremely betrayed now and Merida had no intention of even trying to understand why.

Jack's ears listened to the hurtful words, "I can't handle this." Merida shook her head and walked away.

Merida sighed, "Stay here, I'm going to get Hiccup and Rapunzel; Victor stay with Jack." She shook her head and walked away.

Victor nodded and looked to Jack who scowled at Merida.

"What can't you handle?" Jack yelled.

Merida turned around with a questioning look but Jack rolled his eyes, a slight tug in his gut and he felt rage flow through him. "Whatever." He growled as he stormed off.

Victor was caught between following Merida and running after Jack. He decided to go after Jack but as soon as he grabbed Jack's shoulder Jack pushed him up against the wall with that yellow eyed glare. "Don't touch me!" He grunted. After Victor had expressed his fear in his heart Jack was satisfied and took a deep breath; smiling at the sweet scent he let the boy go and continued towards the grounds.

"And so when I had finally climbed the tower I heard my best friend yell, 'never mind, I have the crown right here!'!"

Everyone erupted with laughter. Rapunzel held her stomach as she rested her head on the table.

Hiccup stifled his laughter and looked towards the hall entrance nervously. How long did it take to fetch the staff? Did they get caught? Who in Thor's beautiful beard was the big guy beside Jack?

Rapunzel sighed, "So then what happened?"

Flynn stretched his hands behind his neck, "Well I took the crown back to the authorities."

One of Flynn's Drumstag friends scowled and chuckled knowingly and Flynn kicked his leg under the table.

Merida waved to Hiccup as she entered the hall who seemed relieved to see her but still glanced around to see where Jack and the other guy were.

Rapunzel smiled, "Well that is very noble of you."

"I am the most noble, so noble in fact that I was given a Noble-est Award."

Merida arched an eyebrow, "How 'bout a Cocky-est Award?"

Flynn seemed surprised to see the red head but pulled his legs off of her seat and straightened himself. "Oh hey, was it Mary?"

"Merida." Hiccup and Merida corrected sternly. They glanced back at each other to share a grin.

Flynn shrugged, "Well I'd best get back to studying anyways; I have to get homework out of the way if I plan on entering the Tri-Wizard tournament." He sent Rapunzel a 'smoulder-look'.

Rapunzel blinked strangely at the odd face Flynn was giving her and glanced to her friends for back-up.

"Okay see you." Hiccup coughed.

Flynn nodded, "See ya, Burp."

Hiccup scowled, "Burp?"

Flynn was already out of earshot as his friends jumped away from the table and ran to catch up with their ring leader.

"He's an odd one." Merida noted out loud.

"Good storyteller."

"Jerk." Hiccup nodded. He frowned and the couple stared back at Rapunzel who shrank at their expressions.

"What?" She raised her hands.

Merida sighed, "Whatever, I need you guys." She grabbed their arms and hauled them out and into the hall.

"Where's Jack?" Hiccup asked.

"I don't know how to explain what happened but Victor and I-"

"Victor?" Hiccup arched an eyebrow.

Merida nodded, "Krum, he's the famous Quidditch player Jack ran into in the hall, he agreed to come with us to get the staff."

Hiccup seemed to accept this silently but without a detectable expression and so Merida continued.

"Jack had an episode, his staff was in there but he didn't seem to care about it, there was some sort of dementor and his eyes were yellow; Victor's with him now..." Merida trailed off as they reached the classroom and found no one.

"Yellow eyes?" Rapunzel frowned.

"Yes."

"Is he okay?" she asked concerned.

Merida shrugged, "I have no idea, I came back to get you guys right after..."

Hiccup opened the classroom door and everything looked relatively normal all for a few shelves knocked down with vials spilt on the floor.

"Hiccup." Merida scolded.

Hiccup glanced back and stepped further in, "You said the staff was still in here?"

The three jumped as the lights flickered on and the door slammed behind them.

"How interesting... Perhaps you can explain why you are here and why my room is in such disarray?" Pitch sneered.

Jack stormed into his common room and made a bee-line for Frank.

"Explain." Jack yelled as he fisted his collar.

Frank squirmed, "What the hell!"

Other Slytherins glanced over but didn't react much. They were used to violence since Ocard usually roughed up any first years he didn't take a liking to.

"You have ten seconds to tell me what you know of the staff." Jack growled.

Frank whimpered, "Please don't, I only know that there was a book, Merida, Hiccup and Rapunzel took it from Alessa and since then I haven't seen it!"

Jack loosened his grip and frowned as his anger left him. Doubt seeded into his mind. "What?"

Frank blinked and his eyes were a bright yellow, "Aww, didn't they mention it? Pity...thought they were your friends."


	7. Chapter 7

Bonnie waited patiently for father to return from the woods. He had left with the axe to chop wood for the fire which was now burning low.

She looked up as the door opened, it was not father.

"Uncle!" Bonnie smiled, she jumped to her feet and as her nightgown dragged behind her she ran to her uncle for a hug.

Uncle smiled but it seemed off, "Hello sweetie, is your father home?"

"Went to chop wood for the fire." Bonnie shrugged.

Uncle nodded and set down his bag to rest on the rocking chair. He flicked his wand and the blanket from the chair lifted and covered his shivering body. "It is a very cold night."

"Of course it is Uncle, it's the first day of winter! Father says that the first frost is always most bitter." Bonnie sat by the chair looking up expectantly for some sort of story.

Uncle chuckled at her eager smile. "Should I tell you about one of my latest discoveries?"

Bonnie's head bobbed up and down in reply.

Uncle smiled and unclothed something. It looked dense, the wood trailed up in a curved way but it looked like a shepherd's crook.

"Woah..." Bonnie reached for it as Uncle gestured for her to take it.

"It was hand crafted by a very old and very wise wizard. He lived in a cave between the crossing of Hogsmade and so he came from the cavern and traded it to me." Uncle explained.

"What does it do? It looks like an ordinary staff."

"The most ordinary things seem to look extraordinary as do the most extraordinary look ordinary." Uncle chuckled at Bonnie's slightly scrunched and confused face. "It means whatever you think has little meaning usually holds the most dear. The small things count." He replied as he leaned over and poked her on the nose.

Bonnie giggled and ran her fingers along the wood.

Uncle shifted uncomfortably as the cold whispers started to tickle his ear. The icy hand, invisible but lethal. It grabbed Uncle's throat and growled lowly as Bonnie played without care.

Do it.

Uncle rose and grabbed Bonnie's coat from the table, Bonnie glanced up and Uncle waved her over.

"Where are we going?"

"We should look for your father...it is far too cold to leave anyone outside when they could so easily catch their death." Uncle explained, his eyes never met Bonnie's. She obeyed and followed him outside, grabbing onto his gloved hand-her other clung to the staff-she looked around the dark forest. "FATHER!"

Uncle clasped a hand over her mouth, "Do not yell for him child, the wolves will be out and they are always hungry."

Bonnie gripped his hand tighter as he continued down towards the rolling hills. In the distance they might have been able to see the faint outline of that large school in which her uncle and father had attended but the fog shrouded all beyond five feet of their eyes.

Uncle stopped in the field and grabbed her shoulder, "Stay here."

Bonnie nodded and held the staff with two hands as she shivered from the cold. "Where are you going?"

Uncle backed away and looked to the full moon within the sky. "Let us begin."

A voice called out and Bonnie's eyes darted in that general direction as the figure made himself known. "Brother?"

Uncle panicked and flicked his wand. Shrouded, cloaked wizards and witches appeared around and shot a spell at father who tried to pull his own wand out.

Uncle wasted no time, he aimed and the words of the curse left his lips as the green light shot towards his young niece.

Jack woke with a start, his brow covered in sweat and his arms shaking. He rubbed his eyes and was made aware that someone was watching him in his dorm. He let his guard down as he saw Rapunzel holding a steaming cup of something.

"Why are you-"

Rapunzel hushed him and sat on his bed giving him the warm cup. "You were having quite the dream when I came in." She admitted.

Jack arched an eyebrow at the door, "How'd you get in?" Surely there was no one in the Slytherin house that would let in anyone but another Slytherin; maybe Alessa and Frank but even they were acting strange as of late.

"Well after Professor Pitch deducted fifty points from our houses and sent us to the Headmaster's office he left us. Professor North was there and we explained our story and so he walked me over to check up on you."

Jack contemplated this and Rapunzel placed a reassuring hand on his knee. "Jack we want to help, I want to help but you can't isolate yourself... After that night..." Rapunzel swallowed hard. "We need to stick together, we need each other."

"I just...I got so angry...I was so confused and so I wanted to get out...I couldn't though, my own mind was..."

"Corrupted?" Rapunzel asked.

Jack nodded slowly, "I went into the classroom alone, looked for my staff but knocked something over by accident and the staff fell out of the cabinet. As soon as I touched it I knew something was off...there was sand...and all was blurred. It was cold and I saw Merida and Victor enter and they were...insulting me... They shot spells at me...I don't even know what kind!" Jack buried his head in his hands as he let out a sigh of frustration.

Rapunzel smoothed his back comfortingly. "Jack...Merida says that when she checked on you the staff was covered in black sand. She says your eyes were yellow and you summoned a dementor on them."

Jack shook his head, "I'm not even powerful enough to do that."

Rapunzel shrugged, "You were powerful enough to escape two unforgivable curses...what makes you think that you aren't powerful enough?"

Jack looked at her and hugged her tightly, "I don't want it...I don't want to..." His eyes widened and he pulled away, "the staff...it saved me but it also...maybe it was the reason I summoned the dementor."

"We found a book that Alessa was trying to read in the library. It's called the Lunar's Curse."

Jack stiffened, "I know."

Rapunzel sighed, "It's mostly gibberish now but Hiccup is trying to decode it...he's worried about you. He think's you're going through feelings that should be felt with help..."

Jack frowned, "What?"

"We were all there and we were all scared, Jack. I don't want you to believe you are alone."


End file.
